This is What We Do IV
by Kaity the Chameleon
Summary: More stories to tell about the small problems the Chaotix face as detectives, occasionally bringing along new friends and learning new things every step of the way.
1. A Past to See: Part I

**Fourth installment, yay =D Just a warning for this one; there's going to be a couple stories in here that surround Kaity, so if you don't like all FC stories, ignore them. But I'll make up for it in _This is What We Do V_. can't think of much to say for this one, so I'll just jump right to copyrights; Espio the Chameleon, Vector the Crocodile, and Charmy Bee (C) SEGA, Dreamcast the hedgefox (C) ~Phase-Gecko (DeviantART name if you're ever looking for her; formerly called Twilight the Gecko on here), Kaity the Chameleon and the Tigers (C) Me, Cloud the Hedgehog (making a later apperance in the story) (C) Fauxmon, and Zero the Hedgehog (also appearing later)(C) Gail Chan.**

**Summery: A call from a distressed Aunt stirs up memories from a certain chameleon girl. Now with a lead to follow, Kaity, along with her friends Zero and Cloud, try and track down the missing girl and a group from Kaity's past.**

Chapter 1: A Past To See: Part I

_She wanted to do something to help; really, she did, but her mom had told her to hide and that's what she had to do. A smaller, seven-year-old version of Kaity the Chameleon, dressed in a red T-shirt and blue jean shorts, watched from behind a closed closet door as a black tiger with purple stripes waved a gun at her mom screaming demands about her daughters location._

_Her mom, a purple chameleon with soft, deep blue eyes scowled dangerously at the tiger. "She's not here." the chameleon said, her voice sounding as dangerous as her scowl_

_Tears perked into the small chameleon's eyes, though she was seven, her fourteen-year-old mind knew what would happen next, yet her body refused to let her move._

_The black tiger smiled wickedly, steadying the gun to the female's chest level and showing a tattoo put into a bare, furless patch on his right arm; it looked like a shard of the Master Emerald, a whirl of green around the piece with a dagger piercing through and a small amount of blood running from the spot . "Fine, we'll find her ourselves." An explosion sounded from the gun and the seven year old got her first glimpse of death._

Kaity snapped awake from the dream, sweating. Just like she always did when the dream decided to replay for her...she was lucky she hadn't woken up the whole Agency this time from screaming. The fuchsia fourteen-year-old scanned the room quickly, her eyes already adjusted, it was the Chaotix Detective Agency, just like it had been every other time she had woken up after taking up a job as a detective. After a minute of calming down, she fell back onto the pillow, mentally scolding herself for everything she didn't do back then. But, she reasoned with herself, she had only been doing what her mother had told her, so she knew she wasn't the only one at fault.

Kaity sighed, knowing what would happen when she closed her eyes; she'd be seven again and standing outside her house on South Island, turning just in time to see fire engulf her home and destroy any evidance of the tiger's visit and crime. She'd stand there and cry for her lost mom and brother, both still inside and burning away with the rest of the building. Then she'd swear to get revenge on the tiger who had put her in that position. Then she would wake up and face another day still no closer to even knowing who the tiger was. The chameleon glanced at the clock, suddenly unwilling to go back to sleep and face the nightmare. The digital clock next to her read 4:57, nearly time for her training to start. She lied in her bed quietly, waiting until she heard soft footsteps coming toward her room and a familiar chameleon figure loomed in the doorway. Kaity turned to meet the older chameleon's eyes, barely acknowledging that she knew Espio was standing there.

"It's time for your training." Espio said blandly, watching the chameleon girl get up and grab clothes to wear during their session. "Be down in no more than three minutes." he said, promptly leaving the chameleon to finish her task.

**OoOoO**

Kaity hurried down, she was cutting her three-minute time span close and didn't intend on facing the consequence of being late. Espio handed Kaity a bannana as a quick breakfast and gestured to the door, which the smaller chameleon obediantly followed him out of and toward the park, their normal training ground.

"You're quiet." Espio noted, glancing at the younger teen, "Anything you want to talk about?"

"Nah, I'm fine." Kaity answered, shaking her head, "Just didn't get a lotta sleep is all."

Espio was silent for a moment and suddenly changed from a friend to a sensai, "Before we can go any farther in your training, we need to improve your power. Your blocking has improved quickly, that's good." he said, stopping. Both chameleon sat down and stretched their limbs, quietly going over their own thoughts until the fighting and training would start.

**OoOoO**

When training ended, the Chaotix Detective Agency was already awake and in full-swing for the day; Charmy was buzzing around being himself and Vector sat behind his oak desk with his feet propted up on top and nodding his head in beat with his rock and roll music. The two chameleons were greeted by the perky bee and Dreamcast, who had just emerged from the kitchen, before going to their own places to wait for a client ot come asking for their detective services.

It came two hours later in the form of what appeared to be a sobbing woman. She was a trim and tidy-looking iguana, purple in color and clutching a picture to herself. "Is-Is this the Chaotix I've h-heard so much about?" She asked batween sobs.

Vector immeditally sensed the distress of the woman and started in soft tones, rather than his normal speaking tones. "Yes, it is." he started, leading her over to a couch to sit down and rest. "What do you need our help with, ma'am?"

"M-my darling little niece, Hanna," She stopped to choke out another sob and handed Vector the picture while the rest of the Agency gathered around, "she wen-went missing two days ago. The same day as her birthday!" The iguana lady broke into a fesh batch of tears and cupped her hands to her face to hide them. "A-And My sister and her husband were killed also." she continued, having the full attention of each detective. "The police said it was an accident, the killing, b-but they never found Hanna."

Dreamcast's ears drooped slightly and she sat next to their client, pating her hand reassuringly. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out for you." she said soothingly.

"Exactly how did your sister and brother-in-law die?" Espio asked, leaning on the back of the couch.

"Th-there was a fire at their house." the woman replied, taking another gasp of air.

Only Espio noticed Kaity suddenly straighten at this before she spoke in a tenative tone. "Um...ya said Hanna had had a birthday when this happened; how old did she turn?" the female asked.

"She just turned seven." was the choked reply.

"And...could she control Chaos?"

The client sniffed softly and nodded her head. "Now that you mention it, my sister did say something about Hanna being a controller." The older chameleon watched the younger inhale sharply, she knew something that she wasn't telling.

"Don't worry," Kaity said in a much nicer, assuring tone, "We'll find Hanna and whoever kidnapped 'er." The giuana client sniffed again, this time a smile showing on her features.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." she said, hugging each member individually and leaving, a lighter feeling in her heart and mind.

**OoOoO**

Espio finally got a look at the missing Hanna; She smiled at the camera, showing off a massive overbite and several spaces between her teeth and was wearing a flowing purple, long-sleeved shirt and jeans. Hanna looked like a hybrid of a salamander and an iguana, deeply shaded with blue and a powdery purple color going in stripes down her arms and most likely her back as well. Based on the date printed on the photo, the picture was taken on Hanna's birthday, when she had turned seven. Espio was jerked from his observations when the picture was snatched from his hands. His golden eyes met Kaity's, looking serious. "I'm gonna go see if I can find this place." she said curtly, looking at the photo herself.

"It's in Future City." Vector said, getting a surprised look from the rest of the team. "If you look carefully, you'll see stuff they only have in future city. And an address I just looked up." The leader scrawled numbers and letters onto a stray piece of paper and handed it to Kaity. "Call when you're on your way back and let us know what you found, alright?" he instructed. Kaity nodded in responce and left the Agency.

**So yeah, there's the first chapter =3 Zero and Cloud are gonna be in the next chapter, I promise. Considering this is gonna be a five-chapter story, I want to put them in as much as I can. Also, I'll be working on my other stories more than I am this one, I'm just posting this chapter to get it out of the way.**


	2. All Too Familiar

**I know I said I wouldn't be updating this much, but I'm pretty much at a stand still with all my other stories. This is just something to keep things going for a while. But I promise I'll be updating my other stories as soon as I start getting good ideas. In the meantime, enjoy =3**

Chapter 2: All Too Familiar

It took a while, but Kaity eventually made it to the crime scene...Or, what was left of it. Only charred remnants of the house's frame remained, even with the fire department's response time, it wasn't enough to save the house or the mobians living inside. "Just like before..." She shivered, walking into the blackened wreckage.

"Do you always talk to yourself?" A male voice asked from behind.

The chameleon girl jumped, spinning around in a ready stance to face the one speaking. Her guard relaxed when she recognized the black hedgehog standing in front of her. "Maybe." she answered to the hedgehog, "What're ya doin' here, Zero?" She asked, "This is a crime scene."

Zero, a black hedgehog with four up-turned spines and orange eyes, brushed his bangs away from his tan muzzle and shrugged nonchalantly. "Just curious." He answered, fiddling with the yellow arm band on his left arm. "I mean, it isn't often you go somewhere without the rest of the Chaotix. More or less a crime scene." Kaity growled quietly, eyeing her friend carefully.

"...Just don't get in my way." She said finally, turning her attention back to the burned remains of the house.

Zero shrugged, stopping at the younger mobian's side "Wouldn't dream of it." he answered, following the chameleon girl around the burned home. Zero watched the girl shuffle around the crime scene, occasionally stopping to examine something before moving on. "What exactly are you looking for?" the black mobian asked, scanning around the blackened area with his orange eyes.

"Evidence." she responded matter-of-factly, keeping her eyes on the ground. Zero opened his mouth to respond but stopped with a loud "Ah-ha!" from his companion. The detective seized a black, half melted rectangle and showed it to Zero, a grin on her face. The hedgehog tilted his head slightly, prompting the younger one to explain. "It's a timed detonator, this means that that kid couldn't've done this." the chameleon girl's grin widened, "And I know who it's gotta be!"

"...And who would that be?" Zero asked.

The grin wilted. "Well, I dunno their name, but I've seen 'em before...Just trust me, alright?" Kaity added the last part at Zero's skeptical look.

Zero shrugged in response, "Alright...So what's the detonator supposed to do to help?" he asked.

"Well," Kaity started, "if we can trace it, we'll be able ta find where it came from and we can ask 'bout it there." she paused a moment. "If we can recover the serial number, that is..."

Again, the hedgehog shrugged, "Very well then."

**OoOoO**

After searching around the crime scene a while longer, the duo returned to Station Square.

"I know a guy who can fix this up for us." Kaity said, turning the melted detonator over in her hands, "The thing is, the Chaotix don't know I know 'im, so ya gotta keep quite 'bout how this gets fixed, alright?" she turned her attention to Zero.

The hedgehog shrugged, but a small smirk appeared on his muzzle, "Alright...but I don't think you can keep a secret from 'Pio for a long time."

the chameleon shrugged in return, "Eh, Espio hasn't figured it out yet, so I think I'm safe...unless some big mouth starts talkin'." She glared meaningfully at Zero as she spoke.

A gust of wind struck both Mobians. "Who's talking about what?" A feminine voice asked from behind. Both turned to look at a cobalt-furred hedgehog girl with three thick bangs falling into place after her quick stop. The hedge-girl wore a black tank top, blue sweatpants, and shoes resembling Sonic's.

"Hey Cloud." Kaity greeted with a grin, she showed the Light guardian her melted clue, "And I was tellin' Zero not ta tell the Chaotix 'bout where we're takin' this ta get the serial number."

Cloud adjusted the black choker around her neck until the gold circle was centered. She took the detonator and examined it carefully. "Looks sort of...destroyed..." She responded, handing it back.

"Well, yeah, but I know a guy who can fix it." she explained, "Wanna come?"

Cloud shrugged then nodded, "Sure. I didn't have much else planned for today."

**OoOoO**

The trio stopped in the slums of Station Square just outside a square brick building that had definitely seen better days.

"So, whoever lives here can get that number?" Zero asked, a skeptical tone touching his voice. Cloud's look toward the chameleon was just as skeptical.

"Trust me, 'e knows what 'e's doin', alright?" She answered, shoving the heavy door open and walking farther into the poorly-lit building with the two mammals following skeptically. The chameleon cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "'Ey! Mole! Ya here or what?"

Both mammals cringed, their ears folding from the sudden shouting. "She doesn't need to shout to be heard..." Zero muttered.

"Agreed." Cloud nodded, rubbing one of her ears lightly, "She's loud enough as it is." Both hedgehogs chuckled quietly.

"In here, Detective." A quieter voice shouted from behind a closed door, "The door's open, come on in."

The trio walked to the door, which they now noticed had a soft light glowing at the base of the door and the quick typing of a keyboard. they opened the door to a room cluttered with lit up computers and equipment, all with their own purposes. A brown Yorkie dog Mobian with orange-red eyes and glasses roughly a quarter the size of his head spun around in a computer chair to greet the trio. The dog, assumedly standing a few inches smaller than Zero, seemed surprised to see the two hedgehogs, giving Kaity a sudden nervous look.

"Relax, Mole, they're with me. They aren't gonna do anythin' ta ya." she reassured. This seemed to calm down Mole enough for him to smile.

"He...doesn't look like a mole." Zero said off-handedly.

"I know." Kaity nodded, "That's what we call 'im."

"Why?"

"'E's pretty good at diggin' 'round for information and tech stuff." Then she added quietly, "'Sides, I dunno 'is real name. 'E never tells anyone. 'E likes ta use code names and that kinda stuff...little geeky." Zero and Cloud exchanged a glance as Kaity turned back to Mole, handing him the melted detonator. "Ya think ya can get the serial number off this?"

Mole took the detonator eagerly and examined it. After a moment he nodded and said in a quiet voice, "It'll be a challenge, but I can get it." The little dog's tail wagged as he scampered over to a machine and placed the melted device on it. His fingers raced over the keys of the keyboard, the glow of the computer reflecting off his glasses. The machine glowed with a green light and scanned over the object slowly, bringing what had been scanned into focus on the screen, accompanied by a soft hum. Mole turned to the trio, his tail still wagging, nearly moving his entire lower half with the force. "This should be able to identify the serial number accurately. Then I can even tell you where it was bought from and when, maybe even who."

"Impressive." Cloud nodded, casting a glance toward her younger friend. "And how come you have to hide out here?"

Mole paused for a moment, his tail coming to a stop. "Ah...not everything I do here is exactly...'legal'." he answered with a timid look on his face.

Cloud smirked at Kaity, "I didn't think you'd let something like this go on."

Kaity shrugged, "Well, 'e's a good ta have as an ally, so I let 'im off the hook if 'e agreed ta help us out when we needed 'im.'Sides, Mole wouldn't last in jail."

The little dog nodded in agreement, turning back to the computer screen as the humming stopped. He hit a few keys, wrote down the numbers on the screen then shouldered past Zero with a quiet 'Excuse me'. Mole went to another computer and keyboard, typing the scrawl quickly and snapping the enter bar down. "This should tell us the where and when."

"What about the 'who'?" Zero asked, looking at the screen with interest as numbers and letters changed at a blurry rate.

An address, date and time stopped on the screen and Mole scrawled it down on a piece of paper. "They didn't use a credit card or any other plastics, so it can't be traced unless I hacked the security cameras...if there are any at all." He handed the slip of paper to Kaity. "This is all I got, sorry Detective."

"It's more than we had before, so that's already better." She grinned, "Thanks Mole."

Mole smiled modestly, pushing his glasses back into place as they slipped down his muzzle, "No problem."

**OoOoO**

The teens, with the help of Cloud's speed, arrived in Radical City ten minutes after leaving Mole with their new information.

"This is the place." Cloud said, coming to a hard stop in front of an arms dealer's shop.

"Charming." Zero said with a hit of sarcasm, he looked at the two girls, "You two seem to know wonderful places to go."

Both girls fixed the male with an annoyed look before walking into the building, followed by Zero several seconds after. Behind the counter sat a green panther with a red baseball cap turned backward and a magazine he seemed deeply indulged in. Kaity stepped up to the counter waited a moment to be noticed.

When she got no reaction from the panther, Cloud cleared her throat; "Excuse me," she started, startling the panther out of his reading, "We're trying to find a guy who came to this store ta buy some detonators and maybe explosives." she explained.

The panther shook his head and went back to his magazine. "Can't help you."

The chameleon girl set a badge on the counter, getting another startled reaction. "I think ya can."

The panther paused for a beat before sighing. "Fine, if ya got something that can help it'd make the job easier." Kaity handed him the serial number from Mole. The panther studied it a moment then tapped the number into a computer. "Sorry, I can't get a name."

Zero nodded, "We were told before he paid with cash."

The clerk gave Zero a strange look. Cloud spoke up before any other questions came out. "Could you identify him from your security cameras?" She asked, gesturing to the visible camera on the ceiling behind the counter.

The panther clerk looked up at it, "Yeah...I guess." He looked at the screen that still had the information down. "It was a while ago, so it may take a while to find the exact date plus the time."

"We have plenty of time." Cloud nodded. The trios were led to a back room and after a short time of searching, the panther popped in a tape labeled with the correct date. He fast forwarded to the hour the items were purchased and paused the tape just as the customer was looking up at the camera.

"There's your guy." he said, gesturing to the Mobain on screen.

To the two hedgehogs, he was nothing but a black tiger with purple stripes and a strange tattoo. But to the youngest of the three, the tiger was a sign of how close she was to her goal.

**Can't think of anything to say here...soooooooo...Cookies. =3**


	3. The Issues At Hand

**I got inspiration for this, so I figured I'd move it along :D I've only got about two chapters left in this story and a lot to get in, so expect long chapters :D**

Chapter 3: The Issues At Hand

The trio arrived at the Chaotix Detective Agency and told the three detectives what they had found.

"So, this tiger guy burned the place." Vector said, trying to envision the tiger described to him.

"That's what we _think_." Cloud corrected.

"Either way, it's the first suspect we've got. Anything else you know about him besides what he looks like?"

Kaity shook her head, "Nope, 'e paid cash so there wasn't a way ta get a name."

"We could ask around." Espio suggested, "A tiger going around committing arson isn't exactly a common happening, epically not around here."

"But no one we can ask would know." Charmy frowned, "Remember? All the bad guys hate us."

"Doesn't mean we can't shake 'em up a bit." Kaity smirked. "Then get some answers."

The look on Espio's face suggested he wasn't thrilled with the idea and turned to Cloud; "You still have friends who are rogues, correct?"

"Yeah." Cloud nodded.

"Perhaps you could convince them to ask around for us?"

"Because you four can't without getting shot at?" Zero put in with a snide-tone.

Espio's expressions suddenly shifted to an irritated one but nodded, "Yes, also because they're less likely to cooperate with someone on the opposite side of the law."

Cloud shrugged, "I could try. But I doubt they would know anything about an arsonist."

**OoOoO**

Time passed slowly after Cloud and Zero left, leaving the Chaotix to their usual activities when they were jobless. All except Espio, who had quickly picked up that their current case, was more than just another problem to the youngest reptile of the group. Both chameleon's sat in a meditative stance, and though it broke his rules for meditation, the older of the two spoke to his student. "This case...it's interesting." He started, getting only a dulled 'um-hmm.' from Kaity. "Not to say you don't care about the other cases, but I'm seeing you get more and more involved in this one...perhaps there's something important about it to you?"

There was silence. Espio opened one eye to glance at Kaity; both eyes were closed and she still sat in a similar way to himself, but he could tell she had tensed. "Nah, nothin' too important." She said finally, opening both eyes to look at him. "Why're ya askin'?"

"Well, as I said, you seem very involved in this case." He repeated. "But you know not to get too emotionally involved, correct?"

Kaity's tone suddenly got harsh. "'Course I do. What kinda question is that? I'm not a rookie, ya know."

"Of course you're not." Espio agreed, "You're an excellent detective, but sometimes emotions can get the better of even the greatest warrior."

"This case has nothin' ta do with me."

"I'll take your word for it. But why-"

Kaity growled and shoved her friend hard, "Drop it, Espio!" She stood and quickly retreated upstairs to her room.

Espio pushed himself off his elbows and glanced at Dreamcast as she came over. "Something wrong?" she asked, her ears lowered enough to show her concern.

Espio shook his head, "Not at the moment...but I can't shake the feeling that she's hiding something...something this case will explain to us."

**OoOoO**

Zero walked down the empty streets of Station Square, night had already fallen so it wasn't a surprise to the hedgehog that he was the only one on the streets. Zero looked around at the apartments; lighted windows dotted the buildings, occasionally showing the shadow of a resident. "The ritzy side of town." he recalled his chameleon friend referring to it as.

A sudden gust of cold wind sent a shiver through Zero; he rubbed his hands quickly up and down his arms in an attempt to warm himself after the surprise blast. The wind blew again, this time making Zero stop. Had it been his imagination, or had he heard talking close by? The wind subsided, allowing Zero to listen carefully; his ears twitched a bit as he strained to hear again. His efforts paid off; though he could hear no words, he heard a voice clearly this time, and not just one, two voices talking softly. They couldn't have been more than a few meters away, somewhere out of sight.

Zero went forward a bit more cautiously than before, the voices gradually clearing up and understandable words being added.

"How long we gotta stay here?" one voice, sounding like an adolescent male, judging by the cracking in his voice.

"Not much longer." A deeper, darker voice replied, "Boss wants the kid back at HQ to be dealt with, so once that's finished with, we're out of here."

Zero stood, back against a cold brick wall, at the mouth of an ally. The wind blew again, drowning out the younger one's response. Then the young one said "Chaos, it's cold out here...Why can't any of these controllers ever be someplace warm? Like Miami or the Desert Zone?"

Zero peeked into the ally; his eyes adjusting to the dim light, the younger voice clearly belonged to a lime green tiger with darker green stripes. The taller one was orange with yellow stripes and looked more than able to break any smaller mobian in two. The orange tiger cuffed the smaller one in the head, making him stumble a bit, "Quit complaining." He grumbled, "I don't like it either, but the profit is worth it." The bystander's eyes zeroed in on a tattoo both tigers bore on a bare square of skin; the same tattoo he had seen earlier with Cloud and Kaity at the arms dealers' store.

_'Fancy seeing them here...'_ he thought to himself with a smirk, taking full advantage of his fur coloring to hide him. Perhaps they could even lead him right to their hide out.

The little one looked at his watch. "We gotta be gettin' back. Boss ain't too happy with me right now; I don't wanna make him any more mad and end up like Jackie."

The older one chuckled, "Poor bastard." Apparently Jackie wasn't a good person to be. "Alright, let's head back...it's cold as Hell out here, anyway." The orange tiger started toward the ally and Zero, who immediately backed more toward the sidewalk, staying close to the wall and his cover of shadows. "You know, Boss is probably mad at you because you forget everything. Like tomorrow."

The smaller one blinked a few times, his voice cracking as he spoke, "Tomorrow?"

"See? You forgot that we're meeting with Boss to take care of the kid."

"Oh, right. I didn't forget." the younger one lied.

"Of course not." The older one rolled his eyes, unaware of the hedgehog following behind and hanging on his every word. "Just don't forget: The Apollo Building at noon tomorrow."

"I didn't forget and I won't forget." the smaller one said crossly. The lime green tiger noisily swung open a door to a building that looked ready to collapse; the bigger one went through, chuckling, and slammed it shut behind him.

Zero stayed outside; the noise the door made would give him away if he tried to get in, but he looked at his surroundings, storing significant landmarks in his mind to bring his detective friend the next day.

**Cookies :D Also, hopefully I kept everyone in character...**


	4. The One?

**Yeah, I'm finally updating X3 but I'm kinda pissed off that I can't get too far on _Chaos Beyond Chaos_ without hitting a wall D= I NEED to get a chapter of that up! My complaining aside, this is a pretty long chapter, so go take a pee, get a snack and try not to hurt your eyes from staring at the monitor so long...I would feel terrible if someone got eye damage/cancer because of me D=**

Chapter 4: "The One"?

Espio was up even before the first rays of the sun began shining over the horizon. Since Kaity had requested he teacher her ninjuitsu, his days started with training at five o' clock sharp and ending a seven 'o clock which was usually accompanied by a race back to the Agency.

The chameleon dressed himself and walked out of his room, surprised to find his student in Vector's chair, head rested in front of the keyboard, and fast asleep. The male quietly approached, curious what she could have spent the entire night looking at. As it were, she had several tabs pulled up, three Google searches; in which he found keywords to be 'Chao controller fire', 'tigers Chaos control', 'tigers, fire', several tabs with articles of other house fires, a tab that showed a report of some kind on Chaos Controllers, and a blog that talked about mysterious house fires. As he scanned the blog, he found several of the writers put in something about a 7th birthday and the child living in the house having the ability to control Chaos. He also found a tablet next to Kaity with her scrawled handwriting.

Espio carefully reached over his sleeping friend and pulled up the page about Chaos controllers and glanced at the tablet, recalling seeing the words 'Chaos controller' in her notes. The notes matched up with bits of information from the article, Espio scrolled down and found the paragraph Kaity had written almost word-for-word:

_All mobians are born with some amount of Chaos controlling ability in them, hence the reason many can turn to a "super" form yet be unable to perform any kind of Chaos control abilities. True controllers are born with a mass amount of Chaos energy already dwelling inside them, and though it can spark off every now and then, studies conducted with groups of Chaos Controllers show that the average age for Chaos abilities to fully mature and be controlled by a host is at age seven. Polls of parents of Chaos Controllers agree that it is better to tell the child at age seven and explain their powers to them so they better understand their "gift"._

Espio scanned the paragraph again; he had taken an interest at the ability to control Chaos at one point and had learned that there was nothing in genetics about Chaos Control, nothing more had been explained about it, and it appeared as though nothing more would be explained about the age factor of mature chaos control either. Then again, no one fully understood Chaos Control. The fuchsia chameleon called up several of the newspapers concerning mysterious house fires and glanced at Kaity's handwriting again. Finding that she had taken notes on the articles.

_-On birthday - seventh_

_-C.C. _(He assumed this stood for 'Chaos Controller')

_-house fire_

_-none solved_

_-trainer_

_-no evidence_

_-Missing children - dead?_

Espio had long since learned to read the emotions of one's handwriting; as Kaity's notes of the similarities when on, he noticed that the ink had gotten darker and the words more imprinted in the page; she had been getting angrier and angrier. The ninja pulled up a final newspaper article, a paper called _The Gossip_, and skimmed it over quickly, he could swear the girl the article was about looked familiar to him.

Then it hit him.

The detective's gaze suddenly whipped between his sleeping friend and the little chameleon girl in the photo. He supposed if the pictured girl was aged a few years, it would turn out identical to the one before him. He studied the picture carefully. Newspaper ink was never one hundred percent accurate to true color, but they looked similar enough to point her to being the same chameleon girl he knew.

Before he could take in anymore of the article, Espio felt his head suddenly ram into the monitor with enough force to make any lesser mobian cry, but, being the guarded chameleon he is, Espio didn't shed a tear but groaned quietly. He felt himself be spun roughly around, almost horn-to-horn with Kaity, a look of violent intent burning from her blue eyes to his golden ones.

"I don't remember sayin' ya could read any of that." she hissed in a poison tone.

**OoOoO**

Training that day had gone by at a painfully slow rate, though Espio had been happy with Kaity's improved power when delivering blows, he suspected it had much to do with her flare of anger. The older chameleon didn't ask any questions about what he had found out nor let on how much of her research he saw. Instead, he kept to his usual stern sensei manner and pointed out the mistakes of Kaity's attacks, defenses and walked her through anything that needed explaining.

The race home had been where a majority of the violence had been, Espio counted seven times total Kaity had caused some physical damage to him, and even tripped him a few feet from the Agency.

When Espio walked through the door of the Agency, he could already tell he had missed something important; both Cloud and Zero were there, Vector seemed tense about something and an indescribable look on the chameleon girl's face.

Espio cleared his throat, "Did I miss something?" he asked.

Everyone looked up at him at once, but Zero was the first to talk, "You know that tiger we told you about yesterday, Espi? I found a couple of them last night and followed them. They're supposed to meet their boss today at noon, and I found their base."

"Probably where they're keeping the kid." Vector cut in.

Cloud stepped into the conversation now, "I asked around, and a few people pointed me toward some old retriever in the next city over; He couldn't tell me much more, but there was a few interesting facts in there." As she spoke, the blue hedge-girl fished out a sketch of the tattoo that had been described the night before.

"What did he have to say?" Espio asked, examining the drawing.

"He's a tattoo artist. He said he's done that particular tattoo a couple times, only on tigers. He said once he had overheard a group of tigers talking while they waited, he picked up the name 'Killer Tigers'. Nothing else." she finished, deciding against adding the detail of the dog's offer to make her a tattoo.

"So, Zero can show us where they're keeping the girl, and then we can catch their boss." Espio nodded.

"Which should shut down the whole gang, whatever their intentions are." Vector added with a nod as well.

"But it'll have to be done before noon if you want the girl alive." Cloud said curtly, she glanced at the clock, "We've already spent about twenty minutes standing here talking, I suggest you make a plan and go in case there are any complications."

"Or we could just go now." Kaity suggested.

Cloud stared blankly, were they really that reckless?

"The faster we get there, the more chance we have of getting the girl out in time." Vector agreed.

**OoOoO**

Zero took the lead, taking the Chaotix and Cloud to the old building he had followed the two tigers to the night before.

"You're positive this is the place?" Cloud asked skeptically, looking at the unstable building, "It looks ready to collapse. No one would want to hide in here."

"Exactly why they would." Vector reasoned with a knowing grin. "Let's go boys...and Cloud." the croc said, him and his detectives hurrying toward the doors.

Zero and Cloud followed at a calmer pace, "Interesting how they run blindly into these situations, isn't it?" Cloud mused to the black hedgehog, who merely shrugged.

The mammals stopped just inside the door with the Chaotix. "It's about eight-twenty now, so we've got plenty of time to search before we had to leave for the Apollo building." Vector told them.

"Which is about an hour from here." Espio added, "Giving us only two hours and forty minutes to search and get Hanna away safely."

"Then we could split up, search for roughly 2 hours and twenty minutes, then head toward the Apollo building." Cloud suggested. The Chaotix nodded in agreement with the idea.

"Kaity, you go with Cloud and Zero," Vector instructed, "Espio and Charmy are with me."

Kaity nodded, "We'll search 'round here and the basement, ya guys take the top floors." The group came to their final agreement and split up to search for the girl.

**OoOoO**

Cloud carefully pushed open a door, leading the trio to a new room. The three froze when the door's hinges squealed loudly, alerting anyone close by that they were near. Minutes passed, and when no other noise responded to theirs, they moved on silently through the room.

"I'm pretty sure they aren't keeping her on this floor." Zero offered, tossing an oily rag to the side, grimacing as he realized the oily substance was now on his fur.

"Then we'll check the basement." Kaity said, leaving the room quickly and heading toward a descending staircase.

Cloud and Zero did an immediate double-take and followed after their friend, but kept a distance from the chameleon to talk; "Is it just me or is she acting odd?" Zero asked.

"You mean more than usual?" Cloud asked with a tomcat smirk, she couldn't resist.

But Zero still nodded, "Yes, more so than usual."

"Detectives sometimes get too into things." Cloud explained to the other hedgehog, "Then again, I heard from Espio she was sort of obsessing over it."

"I never pegged Espi as a gossip." Zero chuckled, earning a strange look from Cloud.

"You-" She stopped at a loud bang followed by an even louder 'ow'. "Sounds like she found a door." Cloud sighed, quickening her pace. When Zero and Cloud arrived, Kaity was gingerly holding onto her right hand, which they assumed had caused the bang. The door in front of them appeared to be made of a thick steel and had a grid lock on its right side.

"Can't punch it down." Kaity reported, shaking her hand and letting it fall to her side.

"Obviously." Cloud said with a tomcat smirk, "Have you tried looking for the code?" she asked.

"Psh, no." the chameleon replied, crossing her arms.

"Try head butting it." Zero suggested in a calm, matter-of-fact tone.

The blue hedgehog sighed and examined the grid lock carefully. She quietly mumbled something to herself and her fingers danced over the keys, eventually coming up with an approving _beep_ and a hollow sound of a lock coming from its place in the wall. "Pretty simple lock." Cloud murmured in concern, "Like they _want_ us to get in."

"We're in, that's what matters right now." Kaity interrupted, shouldering past the hedge-girl. The room they stood in looked like any other basement, only bare. "And they aren't on this floor, either..."

Zero walked farther into the room and looked around, "Then Espi, Vector and Charmy must have found something." The black hedgehog nudged his head toward the stairs and started in the same direction.

"But why put the lock there if there's nothing to guard?" Cloud asked, looking around the room. Her forest green eyes suddenly locked on a particular section of the wall; the bricks were slightly different in color, just glancing, it was almost unnoticeable. The hedge-girl walked briskly over to the wall and examined the bricks carefully: She could see a thin line down the center of the discolored bricks.

"What is it?" Kaity asked, staring at the bricks with her friend.

Cloud traced her finger down the line, "No crack makes a perfect line like this. It's man-made."

"Ya mean a hidden door?"

"Precisely."

"Let's crack it down, then." Kaity punched her hand into her open palm.

"Let's be a bit more careful." Cloud scolded gently, "If they can get though, there's something to it, obviously."

Zero joined the two girls by the wall and examined it. "We've got about forty minutes before we meet up with the Chaotix to head toward the Apollo building." He went to the wall and leaned against it, a few steps off from the point of interest. "In the mean time, you two go ahead and check around."

A loud _scraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape_ noise made the male jump away from the wall, a bewildered look appearing on his face for only a short amount of time. The walls Cloud had Kaity had been observing slowly parted soundlessly after the scraping noise stopped; opening into another room. This room was completely empty, save for a trap door placed in the center of the room. Cloud, Zero and Kaity approached it carefully.

"Nice goin', Zero." Kaity complimented, pulling on the black ring on the trap door; the chameleon girl pulled the door open with a bit of difficulty, the open door revealed a steep, narrow stairway heading farther below the ground.

"Looks like it's been used recently." Cloud noted, stepping carefully onto the first stair. "We should be careful."

"Thirty-five minutes left." Zero reported, starting down the stairs himself, "We'll have to make this quick."

"Then let's." Kaity said, hurrying past Cloud and Zero down the stairs.

"Wait, you might-!" Cloud started, automatically sticking out a hand to grab the chameleon girl who was quickly out of reach. There was a yell and Kaity went sliding down the stairs on her rump. "Fall..." Cloud finished lamely. An amused grin crossed Zero's face.

**OoOoO**

After the two hedgehogs reached their friend and a quick argument about running down stairs, the trio looked around their new location; it was dimly lit, but they could still see what appeared to be cells with bars glowing a dim shade of red. Almost immediately there were quiet whimpers behind the bars, children's whimpers.

Zero approached the first cell and looked inside; a small hedgehog boy with a black birthmark just above his upper lip sat in the corner of the cell. He couldn't have been more than seven years old. "There's a kid in here." Zero said in an even tone.

"What?" Cloud came over also, making the hedgehog boy try and push himself farther into the corner; the blue hedgehog could tell the boy was scared and perhaps confused. "Hello." She tried a nice smile to calm the boy. Which worked.

The hedgehog boy seemed to loosen his muscles when Cloud spoke, but never left his place. "Hi..."

"What's your name?"

"Innocent." The boy replied.

"You're name's 'innocent'?" Zero almost sneered.

But the boy only nodded, "Yup. My mommy named me Innocent..."

"What're you doing here, Innocent?" Cloud asked, stealthily elbowing Zero before he can speak again.

"A tiger came and took me away from mommy and dad;" Tears welled up in his eyes, "Other kids keep telling me they're going to kill us all. They said they want us because we have something."

Kaity scowled and joined the two mammals, "I knew it. We've gotta get these-"

"Hey!" The little hedge boy pointed at Kaity excitedly and jumped to his feet, "You're The One! Aren't you?"

The chameleon girl's eye ridge rose questionably, "The One?"

"Yeah! You look just like her! Only bigger!" This caused quiet muttering in other cells, and even a few young mobians moving close to their cell doors to see the acclaimed 'One'.

"And how come I'm 'The One'?" she asked, her tone suggesting she didn't buy the boy's statement.

"This one kid told me that someone got away from the bad men and they keep a picture of her to find her. You look just like the picture!"

the hedgehogs looked at their younger friend with a questioning look; she seemed disturbed by the news given to her.

"How much longer?" she asked Zero.

"Twenty minutes." he replied.

"Ya two get them all outta here, I'm gonna go ahead and see if I can catch these Tigers." The chameleon turned and ran for the stairs before any objection could be made.

"Yeah, sure." Cloud's tone suggested the flash decision had hit a cord of irritation in her, she started to move toward the door as well, Zero's hand coming down on her shoulder stopped the hedge girl.

"Perhaps we should give her the extra twenty minutes. I'd like to see how this plays out." the black hedgehog said in an almost grave tone

**"Enjoy your eye cancer." ~Someone on DeviantART I can't remember the name of.**

**No, seriously, be careful DX No one wants eye cancer...on that sad note, next chapter will come eventually =3**


	5. A Past to See: Part One: HIATUS

**I'm glad to finally get the case over with...for now. Enjoy...and beware of the fail to come!**

**And I'm worried I got Cloud and Zero wrong again D= I kept getting the feeling it was all wrong while I was writing it...damn my bad character skills...**

Chapter 5: A Past to See: Part One: HIATUS

After the twenty minutes had passed, Cloud, Zero, and their group of rescued kids rejoined the Chaotix on the ground level. Espio was the first to notice the missing mobian. "Where's Kaity?" He asked, arms crossed over his chest.

"She went ahead." Zero responded. "About twenty minutes ago."

"Who're they?" Vector gestured to the children following after Cloud and Zero.

"More of this groups victims. They're from all over." Cloud explained.

"Guess we'll have to find a way to get something out about them pretty far around then." Vector said thoughtfully, as if he already had a plan.

"They were all downstairs?" Charmy asked, buzzing a bit closer to the one named Innocent who, in response, backed a few steps away from Charmy.

Cloud nodded, giving Charmy a light push away from the child, "Yes. They're still a little scared, though."

"Did she say where she was going?" Espio asked. After a few confused looks, he added, "Kaity, I mean. Did she say where she was going?" Zero shook his head, but Espio's scrutinizing glare at the black hedgehog said he knew the mammal was lying. "She went to the Apollo building, didn't she?"

Zero only shrugged, grinning slightly. Cloud finally nodded to Espio, "Yes. She wanted to confront those tigers and left us to deal with the children."

Espio growled and cast a sharp glare to Vector, who nodded calmly, "Yeah, she's getting too involved, I get it, Espio." the Crocodile said. "But it's not like she's going over-board with it."

Zero cocked his head to one side, "What does her getting involved with this have to do with anything?"

"Well, if we think she's getting too emotionally involved with any case, we've gotta cut her loose from the case."

**OoOoO**

Kaity was breathing hard by the time she reached her destination; the meeting place of the tigers Zero had over-heard. The building stood twenty stories high, made of blindingly white material that had just recently lost its white luster, and windows planted into the building every foot or so across a single floor. The chameleon girl hurried in, ignored by the business men and women milling about the lobby of the building. She called for the elevator with the press of a button and tapped her foot impatiently as it made its decent to the ground floor from where ever it had been stationed before.

A dainty _ding_ sounded and the elevator doors silently slid open. Kaity hurried in. The elevator itself was outside the building; Kaity would be able to watch the city around her shrink as she went up. The chameleon pressed a button, directing the elevator to the top floor. She bounced eagerly from foot to foot as the machine rose. _'C'mon, C'mon! Go faster!'_ She willed the elevator, _'I've been waiting seven years for this...'_

The elevator shifted a bit before finally coming to a stop in the top floor and another dainty _ding_ was heard and the chameleon girl smiled wide in excitement. Her smile dropped suddenly when an explosion within the building coughed out smoke into the air. An explosion from the top floor. The doors opened, rushing in hot air and smoke, forcing the Kaity to the ground quickly. _'No!'_ her mind screamed as she rushed into the building to survey the damage; there were already casualties, some of which she noticed were tigers with from the gang she had just been tracking.

Kaity ran toward the smoking hole in the wall, only to be seized by a human man who would have looked smartly dressed if not for the soot and tears the explosion had caused. "Hold it, it's too dangerous!"

The detective struggled against the man's grip with one hand stuck out as if she could touch the scene she had been racing toward. _'It's not fair...'_

"Lemme go!" she shouted at the man. _'They were right there...after waitin' seven years...'_

"It's too dangerous for a little girl." The man insisted. _'Seven years...they were right there...I could've had 'em...it's not fair...'_

"I'm not a little girl! Let go, now!" She screamed, bottled rage suddenly bursting out. _'It's not fair! It's just not fair!'_ Kaity broke free of the man but stopped several steps away from the wreckage; everything had been either charred black or lay in tatters with smoke still seeping out of the building. She felt her knees go weak, forcing her knees to fold under her. Sirens and loud, hurried footsteps were coming closer. "It's not fair!" Kaity cried, tears streaming down her muzzle, "I was so close! It's just not fair!"

**OoOoO**

The Chaotix, Zero and Cloud arrived; hurrying when they saw fire trucks, police and ambulances hurrying in the same direction. Vector, being the biggest and most intimidating, easily pushed though the crowd of scared and curious on-lookers. The five ducked under the yellow tape, after telling their horde of child followers to say put outside the line, and looked around.

"There she is!" Charmy cried, pointing out a familiar chameleon talking to several police officers handling body bags. One officer said something while nodding the group couldn't hear and Kaity said something in return. She then left the police man to his work, taking a seat on the bumper of an ambulance while a paramedic tended to what the girl's friends assumed were wounds.

The five quickly closed the space between them and Kaity, ignoring any protests of them being there. Espio was the first to reach the girl, "What happened here?" he demanded, then, in a softer tone asked, "Are you okay?"

"Have you been crying?" Vector asked, spotting old tear trails on the chameleon girl's face.

Kaity coughed a couple times before answering, "A bomb went off on the top floor. A lotta people got hurt, a lotta people died..." She wiped the tear trails away, ignoring Vector's question all together.

"Wait, you mean the same floor we were supposed to be on?" Espio asked, a more serious tone taking over.

Kaity nodded, "If I'd been a minute, I probably could've-"

"You probably could have been dead." Zero said blandly. "Like the rest of them." The chameleon went silent after that.

Cloud strayed away from the Chaotix and Zero, spotting the officer her reptilian friend had been talking with before. "Excuse me," She started, getting the man's attention, "I'm friends with that girl over there-" She pointed out Kaity, "-What was she talking to you about?"

"The detective?" the officer, a blond, pale-skinned man asked, "She was asking about the casualties. She was especially interested in how many tigers were in the accident. I'm not sure why, though."

"And were there a lot?" Cloud asked, a feeling in the pit of her stomach told her the answer already.

"Yes. What's more unusual, most of them had similar tattoos." There was a moment of silence while Cloud nodded slightly, understands fully what had happened. The man spoke up again, "You're friend was pretty brave up there...considering she was so near the blast. She was already directing people when we got there and explained everything she knew to us."

"That or crazy." Cloud mused.

**OoOoO**

By the time the five reached the Chaotix Detective Agency again, it had already grown dark. Cloud and Zero bid their detective friends a good night and left, both going their own ways to their living quarters.

Vector checked the clock and shook his head, Charmy and Kaity had already been sent off to bed, surprisingly with no objections from either. "Tell you what, Espio, how about you break the news to our client?" he suggested.

"You mean that the girl was killed in the blast?" Espio snorted, "I think not."

"Well, I'm not gonna be the one telling her. I can't stand seeing a woman cry."

Espio shrugged, "I suppose we'll figure it out when the time comes to confront her." Having the final word, Espio headed toward his room, mulling over what he had heard from Cloud on their way back and the oddness of the case they had been given. The ninja had a gut feeling this particular case was far from over.

**Finally over...For now (echoing the top XD) Now I can move on to the next one, which I'm sort of excited to start; The Chemist's Code. _But Chaos Beyond Chaos_ and _OC Heroes_ comes first...so don't expect it for a while =w=;**


	6. The Chemist's Code

**I had a lot of free time today. Snow day. =D So this actually got done in a timely fashion.**

**Summery: A chemist is mysteriously murdered and the police are assuming it to be suicide. On top of that, a strange message is left behind; could it be the key to this case? Or is it merely the ramblings of a man gone mad?**

Chapter 1: The Chemist's Code

Vector turned down his rock-n-roll as he and his detectives approached the scene they had been called to; the room was cluttered with test tubes of questionable liquids, Petri dishes, microscopes, scattered papers with complex-looking chemistry equations and other such objects. The croc carefully led Charmy out of the way of a hurrying officer and stopped not far from the victim; a pale-skinned human with shaggy brown hair; the victim was lying on his back, so facial features were impossible to make out from the detective's angle. The man was dressed in a long white lab coat, brown slacks and shoes a darker shade of brown than his pants. "Who is he?" Vector asked a police woman who had approached the group.

"I'm assuming you're the Chaotix then?" She said curtly, obviously new to the force and irritated with something.

Espio spoke up quickly before Vector could unintentionally coax any rage from the officer, "Yes. I'm Espio." The ninja introduced his colleagues to the woman and repeated Vector's question.

"His name's Victor No'body." She paused, catching a smirk that flitted over Kaity's muzzle, "I'm Officer Sonya, by the way." She said then picked up a sterner tone, "I may be new to Station Square's police force, but I have plenty of experience. I'm leading this investigation, so no funny stuff, understand?"

"Yes _sir_, Ma'am." Kaity replied clicking her heels together and giving the officer a mocking salute.

Sonya scowled at the chameleon girl but let the group pass through, going farther into detail of the crime. "Our boys say suicide, but Victor's colleague and your apparent client, Robby Schwartz, claims it's murder. When we asked him why he thought that, he told us Victor was on the brink of discovering something big. Revolutionary."

"And Robby's a suspect, correct?" Espio asked, carefully stepping around broken glass from some container to examine the body. Now that he could see Victor's face, he saw that the victim had pale blue eyes, now lifeless and dull, thin lips and a face full of freckles.

"That's right." Sonya responded with a curt nod, "He has no alibi for the time of the acclaimed murder, but he gave us a few names as well; we're looking into them now."

"Is Robby still here?" Vector asked, glancing around for Charmy ad finding him close by Espio.

"No, we sent him home several minutes before your arrived accompanied by an officer who would keep an eye on him."

"I see. And what evidence did you find that suggests this was a suicide?" the croc asked. "If any at all?"

"So far, all we've found are two notes left by the vic. One's a suicide note and other is just a bunch of letters and numbers." She led the group over to a small metal table and handed both notes, protected by evidence bags, to Espio, "There was also a cup of something, probably tea, a sample of it's being sent to the lab for them to check out. We're thinking he put something in to poison himself."

The quartet of detectives peered carefully from one note to the other; the suicide note read:

_My life has come to nothing but work and I am going mad. I'm sorry I've been a burden to my friends and family for the past few months, and no longer wish them to suffer because of me. I confess to the robbery of the Station Square National Bank and the murder of that young woman happening on the Thursday of last week and, despite what the news said, I acted alone_

The note ended signed in his name, the second note, the odd one which they also found was put in the same bag as an envelope addressed to the police stations, read as follows (Author's Note: I wouldn't blame you for not actually reading this passage, it's pretty confusing...and boring):

_FTiB/LiPAlAlFCaCaBBe/H/OF4ArC3FHeMgB/LiArFAlB= VBTiB/LiPAlAlFCaCaBBe/H/OF4ArArFHEB/LiArFAlB/ArPHeHeMn/HFe4Be/F= AlPSiBMn/VHK/ArScSiSiFSiH6/KOPBe3Ca/CPAr/PHe5H4/SArPNeBLiCa/HFe4Be/ArPHeHeMn/Mn8ScNNBKCaBe2Be/H/SMgMg2Si/CaP/NO5Ca/AlC5ArB/AlPSiBe2Mn= HCa/CaOB/CaLi2AlB/FCa/KPScSiBeBBe/MgFNaB/H/NPPBe/FBeBH= VB/HeArPNaH2/FSi/Li3OHSiNaK5/CaP/HSi/Na2MgBe/CArFBMg4H3/PC/AlLi5SiB= VB/KLi3Na2MgB/9,000/BePMgMgHArK/Mg2SiH3/ArHB5/ClScFCa4NaMgMn= CaOB/VB2AlHH8= = = F4P/NPBe/CPArNFTiO5/AlB= CaOB/VB2AlHH8/KHV/Na5K/HSiBe/CaOArEHCaBFe4O5Be/CaP/LiHMgMg/CaOB/SC5Ca3FLiBe2/HeScCa/ArPHeHeMn/NaV6Ca2MgBBe/OMg5Ar= F4P/NPBe/SBe5BHKB/CPArNFTiO5/AlB= _

_FC/MnFe3Sc/OHTiB/H3He2LiPBeBBe/CaCl2Li2P4/AlBKKHNB/SCl3Ne2HKB/NFTiB/Li3ONe2/VPNa6HMg4K/CHAlFMgMn/AlMn/Na3BBSBK5N3/ArBMg3H5Be2CaK/HSiBe/KMnAlSHCaOFBK=_

"Well, it's definitely odd." Espio agreed, scanning over the note. "Did you find that envelope near it?"

"The note was inside the envelope." Sonya reported. "Not that that helps it make any more sense. It's the ramblings of a madman, just like the suicide note said."

"But the letters are different." Charmy frowned, pointing to the 'e's of both notes, "The one with the letters and numbers has sharp 'e's. The normal one had round 'e's. And the 'a's on the normal note have a straight line on them. This one has little curls on the end." Just as Charmy had said, the "e" in both letters were different, along with the "a", the "a" in the nonsense note did indeed have a curl to it, as if the pen had been quickly pulled away at the last possible moment.

"Mind sending us a copy of these notes?" Vector asked, handing back the papers after his group finished looking. "If someone faked one of these notes, we'll find out who. And we may have to ask our client about them." He explained, getting only a curt nod from the new officer. "Great, thanks. C'mon, boys, there isn't much else we can do here." The crocodile turned a swift circle, making several close by officers scatter to avoid his tail and led the younger three mobians from the building.

**If you can figure out that code before I reveal it, I shall name you the god of code breaking.**


	7. Suspicious Minds

**More free time today =D Now that I' m on break. And, with any luck, I'll actually get all my writing and drawing stuff done before New Year's =D Anyway, here's the next chapter, hope you all like it =D**

Chapter 2: Suspicious Minds

Vector examined a photocopy of the odd note; nothing in the note seemed to make sense to him. He had attempted every code he knew and nothing came out making a bit of sense. Though from the group studying it, they had discovered two things; first, slashes separated words. Second, the equals meant the end of a sentence. But decoding the message itself made even Espio's mind spin.

The croc set the paper down and looked at the envelope that the note had been found in. _'why send an encrypted message to the police?'_ he wondered. Of course, the suicide note had said he was going mad, but Charmy's findings started to show that the two writers were not one in the same. Vector leaned back in this chair and glanced at the door; it was starting to get late, Espio and Kaity hadn't returned from questions their client yet. He couldn't deny he was worried; the victim and their client were chemists, they knew about plenty of dangerous things that neither of the two chameleons were aware of. If their client was maliciously involved somehow, there was a chance he knew exactly how to kill anyone who tried to get something out.

**OoOoO**

"What's the project ya were tellin' the police Victor was workin' on?" Kaity asked, distracting their client with questions as Espio quietly searched around the house.

"Well...it's a bit...um...top secret." Robby replied, getting a shifty look in his eyes.

"They guy's dead; it doesn't matter anymore." Kaity protested, she sighed when it became obvious Robby wasn't answering questions, "What 'bout that coded message we found? Know anythin' 'bout that?"

The human, a small man with sandy brown hair, shook his head rapidly; "No! I know nothing about that! Victor was a good man, but he was going crazy. Probably some nonsense anyway."

"Yeah, I read 'bout that in 'is note." Kaity replied, glancing Espio over the human's shoulder; the male was holding a few papers and was in the process of hurriedly tucking them away into his gauntlets. "Speakin' of," She turned her attention back to Robby, "What'd that mean? Why'd 'e suddenly go crazy?"

Robby signed sadly, "Victor always had a hard time letting go; be it a feeling, a possession, or a person. A few months before this all happened Victor had broken up with a girl he was deeply in love with."

"I see." Espio said casually, leaning nonchalantly against the wall of the threshold in the room. Robby spun, startled at Espio's voice.

"When did-?"

"I was here the whole time." Espio lied in a level voice, "Pardon me if I tend to blend into my surroundings. Now, about this woman, what happened between her and Victor that forced a break up?"

Robby shook his head; "It wasn't a break up. It was a divorce."

"They were married?" Kaity asked suspiciously, not recalling any indication of a wedding band on their victim's finger.

"Well, not married, _per say_, they were engaged, but poor Vic acted as though they were getting divorced."

"And what was this woman's name?" Espio questioned.

"Eve. Eve Durly."

"And is she still in the area?"

"She should be...but I don't watch her every move."

"Smart man." Kaity muttered sarcastically, "But ya never told us _why_ they broke up or divorced or whatever."

The chemist grimaced and glanced at the clock, "Um, it's getting late and I need to be up early tomorrow...so, if you please..." He gestured to the door behind Espio.

The detectives nodded slightly and left, wishing their client a good night.

"Who does that guy think he's kiddin'?" Kaity snorted as their walked back to the agency, "'E was holdin' out on us."

"Indeed." Espio nodded, producing the papers he had stashed away earlier; "For example, he definitely knew that code Mr. No'body left behind." The younger chameleon scanned over the page; it was an E-mail conversation made almost entirely out of the unknown code!

"We gotta take this back ta Vector and show 'im." the girl said.

"My thoughts exactly." the older chameleon nodded. "We'll also have to contact Mrs. Eve Durly; perhaps she can shed a bit of light on this situation."

**Just a hint I feel I should throw out there; watch for Victor and Robby's screennames in the next chapter X3 They may point you in the right direction for this case.**


	8. The Second message

**Yeah, this is probably just a filler chapter X3 I was about to go more into things when I realized I still had two chapters to go...so things will be a bit more spread out...sorry...**

**also, sorry about having to repost, apparently e-mail things can't be posted in here Owo; Soooo for the message below, just imagine something like google was their E-mail sender...thing...X3 Sorry again!**

Chapter 3: The Second Message

Vector scanned over the E-mail conversation Espio had printed at their client's house; it read as follows:

Vic4life says

F/LiHH8Ca/CaMg2NaB/Li3OB/Mg3ScFBe5N3/ArPHeHeMn=

Robber says

KK3H5S/VPArArMnLi2Mg4N/HHEH5ScCa/FCa/VB/Na3Li5Be/VOHCa/VBe2/OABe/Ti3F4=

Vic4life says

HeScCa/Na4K3/VHK/VBe3C5B5N= CaOHCa/VSi6Na6HSi= = =

Robber says

CPArMg3BCa/ONe2N4/PNaC2Mn= KLi4Be2/CaOArBHCaBSiBBe/ScP4/Na3PNe4Ca/CC5C3O4Be2Ca/CaLi4HLi3=

Vic4life says

VB/KOPScMgBe/N3ScC3N8/PScF5P4BMgTiBK/FSi=

Robber says

KTi3PS/Li3OFSiNaCa5SiN/MgFNaB/K3OHCa= BeH4/MnPSc/VHH8Ca/K2ScAr/P5ArPNeNe2LiK3/KOScCa/Na3PVB5=

Vic4life says

F/Mg3ScPP/O6PCa= = =

Robber says

CaOBSi/CFSiH3/H/VHMn/CaP/Sc5Be2HF2/VFCaO/FCa= HeNe2P4FBeBK/CaMg5MgMgCa5Ne4N/KPAlBPSiB/Ne2Be5KBe2=

**OoOoO**

Vector scanned over the messages then the coded message that had been meant for the police. "So our client knows the code...which means he probably knows that Victor wrote in that note."

"But he said he didn't." Espio put in, "Perhaps he had something to hide."

"'E did get a little nervous when we asked 'bout 'Victor's breakup with what's-'er-face." Kaity commented.

"You mean Eve Durley." Espio corrected, "We'll find her address tomorrow and ask her a few questions." The chameleon glanced at the clock; almost midnight. "For now, though, we should sleep."

**OoOoO**

Kaity woke the next morning, earlier than usual, and found Espio studying the computer screen at Vector's desk. The chameleon boy's face was illuminated by the glow from the screen; he looked like he hadn't slept a wink.

"Hey, Espio, ya alright?" She asked, slipping behind him to look at the screen.

The male rubbed his eyes, "Fine." he replied, "But I've been looking into that robbery Victor talked about in "his" suicide note."

"Yeah, I remember it. What 'bout it?"

"Well, from what I saw in the news, it took more than one person to do a job like that." He said, scrolling down the page, "but the note says he acted alone."

"There's no way some lanky science dude could do that on 'is own." Kaity agreed, though she hadn't paid much attention to the information herself. "But what 'bout Eve?"

Espio slid a paper with an address more into the girl's view. "Already done."

"Awesome."

"What are you doing up, anyway?"

"Trainin', remember?"

This made Espio stop and glance at the clock; he hadn't realized the time before their conversation. "Consider this a day off, then." Espio said finally, "I assume Vector will want us to break off into groups to figure out Mrs. Durley's connection and figure out the code."

Kaity yawned, "Yeah, probably...and if I know Vector, 'e's probably gonna put ya on solvin' that code."

"Maybe. Even _I_ have to admit that the code is hard to figure out. Whoever wrote that code must have had something to hide."

**OoOoO**

"Alright, boys," Vector started after the team had awoken for the day, "Since our client knows something about this code, then we should go talk to him again; Espio, that's your job."

"Rodger." Espio nodded.

"Charmy and Kaity, you two go ask Mrs. Durley a few questions."

"Yessir!" Charmy saluted, somersaulting in the air.

"What 'bout ya?" Kaity asked. Though she already had a feeling she knew.

"I'll stay behind and try and figure out this code." The croc replied, "If Victor was sending this to the police, then there's gotta be something important about it."

"Don't forget, we still don't have a clue as to how he died." Espio reminded them.

"Then maybe Robby and Eve can help us out." Vector countered, "Maybe not directly, but maybe something will slip."

**I'll get to finishing the next chapter as soon as I can w Also, next chapter reveals more insight on how to figure out the code. =3**


	9. Cracking the Code

**So far, only Gail has figured as far as what's beign revealed about the code here. I shall dub her teh semi-mistress of teh Codes! (bricked) Okay, I'll shut up now =)**

Chapter 4: Cracking the Code

"I'll knock!" Charmy volunteered, pushing past his companion and knocked on the door of Eve Durley. The woman who answered was a tall, thin human with ivory skin and curled brown hair.

"May I help you?" She asked, adjusting the glasses resting on her nose as she examined her visitors.

"I'm Charmy." the little bee said happily, "I'm a detective and this is Kaity. She's a detective too."

"Nice." Kaity remarked, rolling her eyes.

"Detectives?" the human repeated curiously. Something in her mind clicked and showed clearly behind her glasses and in her hazel eyes. "Is this about Victor?"

"Yes ma'am." Kaity nodded, "We heard ya and Victor were engaged."

"Then I'm afraid you heard wrong." the woman replied, crossing her arms, "Victor was a nice guy, but he was too needy for my liking. He asked me to marry him several times, and I've always said no."

"So, you wouldn't kill him?" Charmy blurred out. He regretted it almost immediately after; catching Kaity's sharp look.

"Kill him?" Eve gasped, showing she was clearly shocked by this, "Why would I kill him?"

"Just askin' the usual questions." Kaity covered quickly for her friend's mistake, "Do ya know anyone who'd wanna kill 'im?"

"...Why are you asking?"

"Well, ya see, our client told us ya used ta be engaged ta 'im and it was sorta mentioned in 'is suicide note and-"

"And who, may I ask, is this client?"

"That's confidenti-"

"His friend Robby" Charmy cut his friend off.

The female human scowled, "Robby Schwartz? That core competent, W.O.M.B.A.T, who told me to retire my job to a life of child-bearing and laundry?"

Both detectives looked nervously at the female scientist, as if she would direct his rage for their client on them. "Erm...sure?" Kaity answered finally.

Mrs. Durley stepped aside and opened the door wider, "Please, come in, I believe I have much to tell you." The detectives looked at one another a grinned; they would be hearing _a lot_ of information.

**OoOoO**

Vector set the two sets of codes in front of him and examined them carefully; adding to his mess of paper what they had already figured out.

The green crocodile rhythmically tapped his pen to the pad in front of him as he looked at both notes, racking his brain for a logical pattern. His hand snatched up the phone on its first ring, happy for the distraction, "Chaotix Detective Agency, this is Detective Vector." he recited.

"Detective? This is Sonya." The police woman on the other end replied, "How's the case coming?"

"It's...coming along." Vector answered, "The code's pretty tough to crack, but it shouldn't be too much longer."

"Well, turns out this _was_ murder, if that helps your case at all."

"How do you know?"

"We found that Mr. No'body had Potassium Cyanide in his system. Which is odd, because it usually causes the victim's complexion to turn red or ruddy."

Vector sat up straight in his chair, "What killed him?"

"Potassium-"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard that part, but isn't that...some kind of element mix?"

"Of course it is...why?"

"What's the symbol?"

The police woman sighed on the other side, in the background Vector could hear papers shuffling. "It's KCN. Why?"

"'Cause I think I just cracked the code." The croc replied, "Listen, I'll call you later, have a force ready to come to the Agency, alright?"

"Detective, I don't-"

"Just trust me." Vector interrupted, hanging up the phone quickly. The croc quickly phoned for his team and ordered them back immediately. Pulling up a table to elements, via internet, he set to cracking the code before him with new found ease.

**Any more ideas on the code? Well, since I got the last chpater already ready, you'll find out next =D**


	10. Chemist's Code: SOLVED

**I forgot to say in the other chapter; W.O.M.B.A.T. stands for Waste Of Money, Brains And Time.**

**Anyway =D Final chapter! I'm actually glad this case is over...I'll be taking a break from _This Is What We Do IV_ for a while..._I mean it this time!_ I'm going to finish _OC Heroes_ before I start up on this again. That one's been in-progress for too long w ...well, more accuratly, I won't posting for any other story until that one is finished...Once it's all done, I'll post whatever else I've written for the other stories...damn, I've got too many right now TT_TT**

Chapter 5: Chemist's Code: SOLVED

The trio quickly arrived back at the Chaotix Detective Agency.

"What's so important that you have to call us all back?" Espio asked between gasps of breath; he had double-timed his run to the agency.

Vector grinned, "I'll explain later, but I need someone to deliver this to our client." The croc picked up a paper off the table. "And make sure he doesn't see you."

I'll do it." Kaity volunteered, reaching out for the note.

Vector quickly pulled back quickly, "And _don't_ try and read it." he warned.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The girl responded with an eye roll, snatching the note and heading out the door.

**OoOoO**

Once the CDA was out of sight, Kaity flipped open the note and read it over:

_LiC5AlB/CaP/Li3OH2/LiOHPCaFCr/HKHS=_

The chameleon girl blinked dumbly; _'E figured it out?'_ she thought numbly, her mind whirling from trying to understand the message, _'But how...?'_ Kaity shook her head as if the clear it and high tailed it the rest of the way to their client's residence to secretly deliver the message.

**OoOoO**

Espio observed carefully as Vector phoned the police and spoke with Sonya; the head honcho of the CDA promised the police woman her culprit if only they were prepared and hidden by the Agency in less than twenty minutes. Though when the chameleon boy inquired about the call and message after Vector hung up, the older detective refused to give out any information.

"Learn anything new from our client?" Vector asked casually, skirting around the chameleon's questions.

"Nothing we didn't already know." Espio reported, "But what was-"

"What about you, Charmy?"

The bee looked from his game at the mention of his name; "What?"

"Get anything from Mrs. Durley?"

"Not to help the case...though she really doesn't like him." The bee replied, "She kept using bad words when she was talking about him."

Vector nodding in understanding, "I see." He leaned back in his seat, "Well, boys, this case is about wrapped up."

Charmy opened his mouth to respond, but Kaity interrupted by bursting through the door. "Got it there. 'E freaked out when 'e saw the message' what'd ya write?" she asked. Vector only chuckled in response and shook his head. The Detective said nothing more until the police force arrived.

**OoOoO**

Not even ten minutes after the police had arrived and took stations to watch the detectives, Robby Schwartz arrived, looking somewhat frantic. The human strode immediately over to Vector's desk and slammed down the message. "Who wrote this?" He demanded, "Who did you find that knows this code?"

The crocodile smiled calmly, being sure to show the human his sharp pearly whites. In case the human got any ideas. "That'd be me."

"What?" the human sputtered, "That's impossible!"

"It was actually pretty simple; once I had the right..._elements_." The croc stood up from his desk and walked around, the human looked awe-struck.

"Elements?" Robby repeated, his voice shook as he spoke. "I-I don't know what you mean."

"I think you do." Vector nodded, holding up the E-mail Espio had taken from their client's computer, "You even know the code." As Vector set down the paper, the remaining three detectives pounced on it; noticing the new writing on the paper. Vector had written the translations down. (A/N: I'm not too thrilled with the idea of trying to rewrite this coded message down again, so I'll leave only the translations)

_Vic4life says:_

_ I can't take the guilt, Robby_

_Robber says:_

_Stop worrying about it; we did what we had to._

_Vic4life says:_

_But it was wrong! That woman..._

_Robber says:_

_Forget her, okay? She threatened us, don't forget that._

_Vic4life says:_

_We should turn ourselves in._

_Robber says:_

_Stop thinking like that! Do you want our project shut down?_

_Vic4life says:_

_I guess not..._

_Robber says:_

_Then find a way to deal with it. Besides telling someone else._

"Wait, Mr. Schwartz helped with that robbery?" Espio questioned, suddenly getting both Vector's and Robby's eyes on him, "The suicide note-" The male paused, the realization hitting him. He merely nodded to Vector to go on with whatever he had been saying.

the human was sweating and even looked scared as Vector went on, apparently walking their client though the events that unfolded the night of Victor's murder. He picked up where he had left off; "You spiked Victor's drink with Potassium Cyanide, a poisones substance, and murdered him to keep your secret you knew he would eventually give up. The note he was sending to the police scared you even more, though, didn't it?" Vector tapped a paper sitting on his desk; it was a copied version of the first note with the translations scribbled along the bottom:

_I've committed a horrible crime. We've committed a horrible crime; Robby and I. Money was running short for our project, and Robby suggested a plan to get more money. At the time it sounded like a good idea. We broke in thanks to an old friend of mine. We stole 9,000 dollars and ran quickly. The woman...Oh God, forgive me. The woman saw us and threatened to call the police but Robby killed her. Oh God, please forgive me._

_if you have decoded this message, please give the woman's family my deepest regrets and sympathies._

"So, why'd 'e call us, then?" Kaity asked after skimming the message over. "If 'e's the one who killed 'im, wouldn't it be easier to say it was a suicide?"

"He couldn't risk someone finding out it was murder after he tries to convince people it was suicide; he had to look concerned about Victor." Vector replied, "He knew no one else knew the code, so he didn't think to get rid of it."

"Or he didn't see it." Espio recalled, "If I'm remembering correctly, it was in an envelope when the police found it."

The accused stood quietly, having a look of numbness about him. The human finally bowed his head and muttered quietly, "Yes. That's exactly right...I must admit, detective, I didn't think you would figure it out." He lifted his head, an evil smile creeping over his face, "But you'll also be the last ones to know." He said, lurching forward at the four.

Vector had been ready for this; the croc easily caught the human the lifted him into the air. Before Robby could process this, the mobian tossed him to the side, making the human hit the wall and slide painfully to the floor.

At the sound of the _thud_, police rushed the room, weapons trained on the admitted killer.

**OoOoO**

"So, Vector, what was in the note ya sent?" Kaity asked after the police and Robby left.

"I wrote 'Come to the Chaotix ASAP'. I knew if I used the code he was more likely to come."

"But how did you figure out the code?" Espio questioned, "Not even all four of us could crack it."

"That was a bit harder, but I got it eventually." Vector admitted, "See, it's like a more complex version of the number code; instead of using just numbers, they used elements off the table of elements."

"...huh?" Charmy's head cocked to one side in confusion.

Vector sighed and shook his head, "Okay, let's say you want to write 'hi' or something.'H; is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and is represented by 'O'; Oxygen."

"Because Oxygen is listed as having eight as its atomic number." Espio added, nodding in understanding.

"Right." Vector nodded. "Then Fluorine would be used for 'I'. Unless you wanted to be tricky."

"Meanin' the numbers?" Kaity put in.

"Yep. If there's a number next to an element number, then you just count over that many letters."

"So ya could still use Fluorine fer 'I', but ya'd put a-" The chameleon took a quick moment to count over to the letter she was looking for, "Six?"

"Then it would look like this." Vector scribbled _OF_ and _OF6_ on a paper. "Either way, you're sending the same message."

"Interesting." Espio mused, thinking about the simplicity of the code.

"Except one thing I found was that names were represented only with the original element's symbol."

"Sounds complicated." Charmy complained, "Who'd come up with a code like that?"

"Someone with a lotta free time." Kaity shrugged.

**Yep, raggin' on myself here XD I have too much free time. Anyway, thanks to my buddy CBJ, I've already got an idea for the next case =D It's called _The Stalker_. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut it may be a while until it's posted...sorry...**


	11. The Stalker

**Summary: Kaity is being stalked by an unknown chameleon; and not in any good way; he makes several attempts on her life until she finally fills in the Chaotix. Without knowing any proper identity or motive, can the Chaotix stop this chameleon before things turn bad for their fellow detective?**

**Jenna and the stalker (C) ChaosboundJenna Kaity the chameleon (C) moi and the Chaotix (C) SEGA**

Chapter 1: The Stalker

Kaity felt the hand shove her as she and her friend, Jenna, started their walk down a set of steep steps. The fuchsia chameleon managed to throw herself horizontal on the stairs, to avoid breaking her neck. With her arms crossed tightly over her chest, she waited for the bumping and pain to stop. With a final lurch, she was lying on her back at the bottom of the stairs; startled, bruised but otherwise unharmed.

Others from the crowd now spoke in startled voices about the accident. Except Kaity knew it hadn't been an accident, as much as it looked like one; her blue eyes zeroed in on a male chameleon standing at the stop of the stairs, staring hatefully back at her. Yesterday he had been a shade of red that even Kaity had to admit she was fond on, but today he took on a mango color. His color had changed often, but the two small horns placed on the chameleon boy's head always gave him away. He wore a Green sweater, Khaki pants and tennis shoes that were black and green in color.

"Ya'll alright?" Jenna asked from her side, helping the bigger chameleon into a sitting position. She repeated the question after getting an odd look from her friend.

"Yeah...just slipped is all." Kaity shrugged casually, chancing a glance back at the chameleon boy. He was gone.

Jenna frowned at her; if the light blue chameleon knew anything about the "slip" she didn't show it in her expression or green eyes. The frown only lasted a moment, though, immediately after she smirked and said, "Ya gotta be the clumsiest person I know, _Kaitlyn_."

The other chameleon scowled; she hated her real name. "Takes one ta know one, _Jennavive_." she shot back, grimacing as she stood up. Of course she won't tell Jenna about the other 'accidents' she had been having the past few months; even the Chaotix didn't know what was really going on. "I'll call ya tomorrow, 'kay Jenna?"

"Whatever." Jenna shrugged simply, giving her friend a quick wave and disappearing into the crowd that had quickly gone back to their normality's. The detective went the other way, toward the Chaotix Detective Agency, looking around warily for her follower.

**OoOoO**

Even Charmy could tell something was wrong with their female friend; as of late, she had been tense. Not joking around as much, never going out at dark unless she had to, and even throwing worried glances at a window every now and then.

Now that Jenna had managed to get the other chameleon out of the Agency, the three had ample time to sit and throw out ideas. "Perhaps she knows something she shouldn't." Espio suggested, "And she isn't telling us because she's worried."

"Same theory, except she's just being hardheaded about letting us in on it." Vector replied.

"What if she's in trouble?" Charmy asked, his tone wasn't worried; more suggestive than anything.

"She's been taught to keep herself safe." Espio countered, "Besides, working here has put us all in plenty of trouble. Like that last case, for example."

Vector grimaced, "That poor girl..." he murmured.

"Maybe that's what's bothering her." Charmy piped again, "I mean, didn't she think it was her first?"

"Yes, but she's never been one to dwell." Espio pointed out, "If it does have anything to do with the previous case, I'd say it was someone the girl was working with."

Vector seemed tuned out of the conversation now, shaking his head lightly, "If we'd found out sooner, maybe we could've stopped Lolita..."

**OoOoO**

**(Stalker's POV)**

I was a bit worried Señorita Kaity's blue _amiga_ would figure someone pushed her, but she didn't. Once Señorita Kaity lost sight of me, I ducked away and changed back to my real color; to hold one's color differently needs much concentration; I need a quick rest before I followed _mi presa_ again _La __niña_ got off easy with the police; a suicide, they said. But I knew better. Señorita Kaity is _un__asesino_ who left no evidence.

**Kinda short, I know...Thanks to CBJ for helping me out with this chapter and letting me use her characers in it! =D I wanted to go a bit farther in with the stalker's POV, but then that would've given away too much of the motive...Sorry...anyway, I'll see if I can add a little in-sight to the next chapter =D Now that I'm _free_ of _OC Heroes_!**


	12. Lolita

**Finally got the next chapter up =D Sorry it's so short, I wrote it over my snow day...**

Chapter 2: Lolita

Nothing about the accident was mentioned to the Chaotix; no use worrying them with her stalker. And as far as she knew, she was only going on a theory; maybe the chameleon boy she kept seeing happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. The rest of the day went by quietly; no clients in sight.

The crew took off work early that day; Vector was obviously still troubled about his conversation with Espio and Charmy.

"What's up with Vector?" Kaity asked once their boss had left to prepare dinner; it was his turn that night.

"He's been sad all day since we started talking about that last case." Charmy blurred.

the female detective straightened at this, "Why would ya be talkin' 'bout that?"

"'Cause you're in some kind of trouble and we were trying to figure out why." Charmy finished just before Espio could cover his mouth.

"What? Trouble? I'm...I'm not in trouble."

Espio sighed, the hesitation already proved she was, "We know something's been troubling you," Espio said, releasing the bee, "Otherwise you wouldn't be coming back to the Agency early, staying in at night and coming back with a new bruise every day."

The girl was silent for a moment, the finally spoke, "Fine, there _is_ somethin' botherin' me, but it's just a hunch; I think-"

Espio shushed her, "We'll discuss it over dinner," the three detectives snapped their attention toward the kitchen as the fire alarms suddenly blared and a loud _crash_ came from the kitchen, "...That is, if dinner is edible tonight." he added lamely.

**OoOoO**

Dinner wasn't edible that night, so a pizza was ordered instead and Kaity gave her fellow detectives a quick summary of what had happened and her theory about the chameleon boy.

"And he's never talked to you?" Espio asked, "You can't find any reason he would want to harm you?"

The girl shook her head, "Nuh-uh."

"You said the kid had two horns on his head?" Vector asked, getting a nod, "The girl's brother had two horns like that, didn't he?"

"...What brother?" Kaity asked, looking clearly confused.

"You were still in Lolita's room, but she had a brother who we asked to translate the suicide note for us." Espio explained. Then after a moment added, "It had to have been hard for him to have to see his younger sister dead."

"But it can't be the same guy," Charmy pointed out, "He lives too far away."

"But we aren't exactly unknown; he could have found our address and come." Espio pointed out.

Vector shook his head, "I dunno, the kid seemed too nice to suddenly turn killer. Or stalker for that matter."

**OoOoO**

After Vector's final comment, no one pushed the matter any farther, and ate in silence.

As per their cooking agreement, Kaity washed the dinner dishes afterword as she did every night. The three boys had already retired to their rooms for the night, leaving only the sounds of Charmy's video games and Vector's music to keep her company. The lights suddenly flickered just as she finished her chore, making her pause in wiping her hands to watch. A cold feeling gripped the chameleon; she could sense someone else standing in the kitchen with her, someone angry. But when she turned to look around, she found no one else in the room with her.

"What was...?"

"Kaity?" Espio jumped suddenly, caught off guard by Kaity's sudden yell as she spun around, already in a position to pound Espio. The older chameleon braced the threshold of the kitchen, one hand over his heart. Once asked what he was doing, Espio answered, "I felt something...strange. I came to see if you were alright."

The girl looked away, embarrassed her sensei and secret crush had seen her freak out, "Uh...yeah, I'm fine...I felt somethin' weird too...guess it made me a bit jumpy." She looked back at Espio; his expression had changed in the few seconds she had been looking away; he was fixated on the window behind his student with wide eyes. "...Espio? Ya alright?"

That seemed to snap Espio out of his trance, "What...? Oh, yes; I'm fine." He answered, walking over briskly and leading the chameleon girl out of the kitchen, "Just the...feeling, I suppose." He answered, "You'd best get some sleep." He told her, shooing the girl up to her room.

Once he heard the door close, he went hurriedly back into the kitchen and looked out the window; nothing was there is time, but how would he have explained to his fellow detectives that he had seen an angry-looking spring green chameleon girl, one he recognized as Lolita.

**By the way, Lolita belongs to mah buddeh, CBJ =D**


	13. The Second Attempt

**This actually took kinda long D= I really can't blame my evil floppy and what not for loosing this...but I'm working on getting all the other stuff re-written and hopefully posted soon x3 Anyway, enjoy the chapter =D Kind short, but still...**

Chapter 3: The Second Attempt

The encounter had snapped any drowsiness from the male chameleon's system, so he snapped on their computer and wrote down what he knew and theorized about the alleged stalker as he waited for their out-of-date computer to turn on and load.

Espio's list was finished even before the computer did, taking that time to review what he'd written, hoping maybe something else would come up as he read through:

_Stalker- unrecognized, two small horns, color constantly changing, _ eyes._

_Romero el Chameleon- grey, two small horns, recent loss, Suspect? Motive? lives far away_

_Lolita el Chameleon- R.I.P._

Espio frowned at the last name and what he had written; how had he even considered that Lolita could be behind this? So he set to work adding another line, this time about his coworker and how any small details about their previous case could connect the dots for him:

_Kaity the Chameleon- many enemies, present in prev. case, mentioned in note_

He stopped in his writing; not only because suddenly the computer was working or because he had found a motive; it was because there was a rustle of movement outside, almost under the window. The teen chameleon strode quickly toward the door to look for the intruder.

**OoOoO**

**_(Stalker's POV)_**

_Señorita_ Kaity managed to lose me earlier today, but everyone knows where the Chaotix's _casa_ is. I waited until night to go, though; I would be too noticeable in the daytime. Too easy to recognize. Not to mention it gave me time to gather certain..._supplies_ I would need.

It would have been simple to sneak in after _la niña _was alone, but instead I sat quietly and watched; had she looked up and at the window, she may have seen me; but she did not. She finished her chore and watched the lights flicker for a moment. _Su amigo varón_came in not long after; he saw me. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he now knew who I was, which meant I had to strike tonight if I wanted _la venganza de mi hermana_.

As soon as they turned their backs, I ran to the front of the Chaotix Detective Agency;_ señor _Espio sent _Señorita_ Kaity upstairs and went into the kitchen again; luckily I hadn't stuck around to be seen _por segunda vez_. He came out again and, instead of checking around, went to _señor_ Vector's desk and started writing something I could not see from my place. But because he seemed to pre-occupied with his writing, I slipped away and around their home, carrying my supplies with me.

I have visited many times and knew exactly where _Señorita_ Kaity's _sala de_ was. Scaling the wall was simple enough, the window, however, was a problem; she had locked it from the inside. _Chica astuta_. I had to enter thought another window; an extra room next to _Señorita_ Kaity's and sneak in. _Señorita_ was already asleep when I stepped in; she was completely unaware of my presences. _mi oportunidad había llegado_.

**OoOoO**

Espio walked cautiously around the house; nothing out of the ordinary was to be seen until he spotted a sport's bag sitting just out of sight in the bush under Kaity's window. In fact, if the male had just glanced, he never would have noticed it. He quietly pulled the bag from it's hiding place and glanced inside using the light of the moon. Nothing but daggers and rope; either whoever left it expected a fight or knew how to use the daggers _very_ well if they planned to depend solely on them.

Suddenly another thought clicked. The bag was here, but where was the owner?

**I'm pretty happy with how the chapter turned out, even if it is short. It was supposed to be longer, but I cut part of it out to make it a bit more suspenceful. (bricked) That, and it'll make a good intro to chapter 4 D**

**so, any idea on who the stalker is, yet?**


	14. A Close Call

**After X-amount-of-time, I finally got unlazy and wrote stuffs! =D**

Chapter 4: A Close Call

Clouds suddenly rolled over the moon as if giving an omen. Golden eyes widened as one answer came to mind and Espio sprinted back around to the front door of the agency with the mysterious bag in hand. Not wasting time with stealth, he clomped up the stairs and stood in the doorway of the younger chameleon's room. "Hey!" He growled, seeing only the silhouette of an intruder.

The intruder jumped and spun around; his face was still shadowed by the darkness the clouds had created but the detective could see the tips of two small horns on the intruder's head. The stalker growled and shouted something Espio didn't pick up right away and whipped one knife at the male standing guard at the door and another clean through the window; jolting the female awake.

"What the-?" Her head jerked from one side to another, clearly still regaining her senses.

The intruder was already by the pulled-up window and said in a low, harsh tone, "El pago se efectúa, señorita." The intruder leapt from the window and, just as the clouds began to move out of the moon's light, invisibly took off running.

Espio growled, there was no way he would be able to track down the stalker again; he pounded a fist on the wall. The stalker had been too close for comfort that time; he was definitely getting bolder.

"Um…What'd 'e say?" Kaity questioned dumbly, still sitting up in bed.

The chameleon boy shook he head "He said it too fast to catch." he replied, examining the window, "We'll have to get this replaced."

**OoOoO**

Vector and Charmy were up and demanding answers after they saw the glass on the ground and the mysterious bag.

"For what I can tell," Espio started, "The intruder spoke Spanish and intended to do Kaity harm." The chameleon boy opened the bag to show his companions the daggers and rope contained in the bag. "I think he had planned to just come and kidnap her, using force via daggers if necessary."

"If he planned on using the daggers and rope, why'd he leave them outside?" Vector asked, putting a hole in Espio's theory. "You said he didn't look like he was carrying anything when you first saw him."

"Yes; what of it?"

"Well..." The croc's tail tapped on the ground in a nervous, uncomfortable fashion. His expression said he was thinking of a new way to word his sentence.

"Well what, Vector?" Charmy asked.

Vector took a breath, "If he kept all that outside, maybe he was gonna use it for something _besides_ kidnapping her...like something to use after he had her."

"...Ya mean 'e might've planned ta torture me..." Kaity said, catching the older reptile's thought quickly. The room went silent as all eyes went to the bag belonging to the mystery stalker.

"Well, at least we know who he is now." Charmy said cheerily, "Now we just gotta catch him!"

**Kinda short chapter 8D; But I couldn't go far without getting into stuffs for the next chapter of the short. Sorry for shortness.**


	15. The Stalker: SOLVED

**Because CBJ and W-F inspired me to write with their awesomeness X3 They both know what I'm talking about :D**

Chapter 5: The Stalker: SOLVED

The trap was set and ready; all they needed now was for Kaity to lure the stalker to their position.

"Just be careful, okay?" Vector reminded the chameleon girl, "If you get caught somehow; Espio'll be close by."

"Yeah, I know." Kaity replied in annoyance, "And I'll be fine...I don't have anythin' ta be worried 'bout anyway."

**OoOoO**

****It didn't take long for the stalker to pick up Kaity's trail and follow her on the darkened streets of Station Square. Kaity didn't look back, though she shivered at how quietly he was moving; if she hadn't, by chance, stopped to look in a window, she never would have seen the shadow of the Spanish-speaking chameleon across the street. But she walked on, casually making her way to the park where Vector and Charmy lay in wait for her.

Surveying from the roofs, Espio whispered into his walkie-talkie, "She's on her way and he's right behind her. Be careful, he may still be upset about the last interruption."

He clicked off and waited for Vector reply, which came not even a minute after, "Got it; I can see 'em both from here. You'd better get back here in case we need you."

"Rodger." Espio replied, going silently from roof to roof until he made his way to the shadows of the park; watching at the agreed spot for Kaity.

The chameleon arrived not long after, stopping under an oak tree and turning to face her stalker. "Romero." She said in an even tone, "I get why yer mad at me, but that wasn't my fault; Lolita _chose_ ta kill 'erself."

Romero scowled, walking closer; now everyone, even the hiding trio, could see an almost concealed dagger up the sleeve of his shirt. "_You_ killed Lolita, señorita Kaity. You announced publically that she was the killer; if you had not, she would still be alive! Why could you not just leave her be?" He already seemed to be getting angry.

"She was _killin'_ people." Kaity exclaimed curtly, "We had ta stop 'er."

"Why did you not talk to her first?" He demanded hotly, "She was sick, you knew that from the start; she-"

"_She_," Kaity hissed back, "Could've gotten off on that, and _ya_ knew that the whole time."

"But she did not! She was young; she did not understand that it would help her."

"They why didn't ya tell 'er? Moreover, why didn't ya tell someone when ya first found out she was killin' people."

For a moment, Romero went silent as a darker look went over his face, "She is my _hermana_, I would do anything to protect her. She even said you were to blame for her death; your name was in her note." His voice got darker, "But you would not know; you did not care enough to even be in the room to hear what it said, señorita."

Kaity's mouth turned to a tight line; she didn't want to actually _admit_ she felt bad about the little chameleon's death, but nothing about the argument would change. "I knew my name was in there." She growled, "_I_ got ta 'er first, I saw my name in there." She also didn't want to admit she couldn't read a word of Spanish aside from the basics.

"Then you know that she blames you." He growled back, "And as long as Lolita blames you, I will blame you."

"I was just doin' my-"

"If I may interrupt..." Espio interrupted abruptly, stepping out of his hiding place; Romero didn't seem about to attack. "I do remember the bit about Lolita blaming Kaity, but why waste your life trying to kill her and end up in jail yourself?"

Romero's dagger holding-hand tightened at his side; he already figured that the rest of the Chaotix had to be lying in wait. "Lolita blames her, and so do I."

"So, if we were able to get Lolita here and she forgives Kaity, then you would also?"

"..._Sí_." he nodded, "But it would be very unlikely to-"  
"I saw Lolita just before you went after Kaity." This made Romero stop mid-sentence and listen, "And judging from the presence I feel, she's also here now."

"You are very clever, señor Espio." An invisible, young girl's voice complimented. A little chameleon girl faded into view; a spring green girl, no older than thirteen. Kaity felt a chill run down her spine; the little girl's face bringing back memories of the case that killed the little girl. Espio didn't seem as effected, but still stayed tensely by his friend.

Romero stared at the little ghost with a look much softer than he had directed at the other two chameleons. "Lolita..." He said quietly, then spoke something in Spanish that no one but the brother and sister could understand. Lolita responded in Spanish as well, still leaving the Chaotix crew in the dark about their conversation.

"I can't hear them, Vector." Charmy said in a voice louder than nessicary, and flew out of the tree to hear.

"Charmy, wait! We're not supp-Oh, forget it." Vector grumbled, sliding out of his hiding place to join his team of detectives.

Espio stepped forward; both of the Spanish-speaking mobians stopped and snapped their attention to him. The detective wasted no time, "So, you blame Kaity for your death, correct?" He asked Lolita in a tone that suggested he already knew.

"_Sí_, I do." Lolita answered, throwing an accusing glance at the chameleon girl.

"According to your note, it was because she publically announced you were the killer; among other reasons. But suppose your brother had been the one to tell the police; would you have blamed him for your death?"

Lolita hesitated, "Romero would not have told; he promised to keep it a secret."

"Say he had a change of heart." Espio countered, "Would you blame him?"

"_Mi hermano_ said nothing about me killing thoes people! He promised me he would not!"

"I'm not saying he did; I'm asking you to put yourself in a hypothetical situation. Or at least understand a different point of view."

"Meaning?"

"If you weren't the one killing people, wouldn't you have wanted someone to catch them before something happened to your own family?"

"Yes, señor Espio, but-"

"Or, consider our position;" Espio continued, disregarding the girl's answer, "We're hired to find a mass murderer who turns out to be a young girl with a mental illness that causes her killing impulses. Naturally, we can't just leave and say we couldn't find who, regardless of your age or reasons. Granted, you weren't aware that a judge and jury would have to take your illness into consideration at a trial, which most times lead to a not guilty ruling."

Lolita went silent, so Romero spoke up, "But why did you not talk to her in private first before telling anyone?" He demanded, though the question was more directed at the chameleon girl standing to the side.

"Because," Espio replied hotly, "going on her own without telling anyone where or why could have made her the next victim. And perhaps missing." He directed his golden eyes at Lolita, "And killing her," He started in a warning tone, "Would have made your case so much worse than it was."

Now Lolita responded in an equal tone, "Still, she did not have to announce it publically, she could have-"

"No matter what, people would have learned who you were." The detective took a breath, his tone back to calm, "If we had just gone home, you would have continued killing. We couldn't allow that, even after we knew about your illness. I'm very sorry you took it so far as to over dose, but you can't blame it some someone who was looking out for the lives of others."

Romero scowled, "Señorita Kaity-"

"Kaity didn't stand there and tell Lolita to kill herself." Espio cut in, "She was just as shocked as everyone else when we found her." He glanced at Lolita, "May I speak to you in private, Lolita?" He asked.

The little ghost hesitated a moment then nodded, floating after Espio as he walked a distance from the rest of the group. He stopped once he was out of ear-shot of everyone else. "I'm not going to say or do anything to intimidate you," He assured, "I know Kaity wouldn't like me telling everyone, but she did cry for you afterwords."

The little chameleon girl seemed shocked at this, glancing back at the group, "Señorita...?"

Espio nodded, "We couldn't have been more than a few miles out before we pulled into a rest stop. When she took too long, I went to check on her; I could hear her crying." The ghost frowned a bit and glanced at the group again, listening as Espio spoke again, "She acts like she doesn't care, but if she knew announcing that would have meant you killing yourself, she never would have done it." He paused for a moment, "Also...consider your brother; if he does kill her, he'll be sent to jail. His future is more promising than that if he isn't trying to kill someone."

"I see..." Lolita murmured quietly, turning to float back to the group, with Espio following in her wake. Once they had returned, the spring green girl directed her look at Kaity, "I no longer blame you, señorita Kaity." She said.

Everyone but Espio seemed shocked by this, "...Really?" the detective and ex-stalker chameleons asked in unison.

"_Sí_." Lolita nodded, "Señor Espio has convinced me that you had no intention of killing me," She looked at Romero and spoke something in Spanish that he replied to in the same language.

It went on for a short time before Romero nodded and apologized to the girl detective as Lolita disappeared from sight.

**OoOoO**

"So, what're we doing about Romero?" Charmy asked, being the first through the door of the Chaotix Detective Agency.

Vector shrugged, "What's there to do about him? He's not hurting anyone."

"Yeah, far as I'm concerned, this case is all done with." Kaity answered, heading toward the stairs, "By the way, how'd ya convince 'er, Espio?"

The male merely shrugged and walked into his room for the night. The other three only stared at one another; apparently they would never know.

**! Horrible ending DX Sorry. One more story and this is all wrapped up |D I'll eventaully get around to it, but up next is _A Past to See: Part Two_**


	16. A Past to See: Part Two

**Same story as with Sonic Schooled: Had this for a while, art got in the way...And Dr. Who. |D But that's okay, 'cause he's awesome.**

**Summery: Picking up off _A Past to see: Part One_, Kaity finds another lead on the tigers she had been so intent to find. So the chase is on again, only this time, the Chaotix could learn more than their chameleon friend ever wanted them to.**

Chapter 1: A Past to See: Part Two

Espio scowled at his apprentice; at some point before their training had started that morning, the chameleon girl had gone out and set a trap for her sensei that consisted of something thick and sticky, judging from the smell it was maple syrup, and craft feathers comprised of different colors. While the ninja-in-training hooted and howled with laughter at her multi-colored chameleon-bird-creature, the prankee let out a low growl; she would pay _dearly_ for this humiliation.

"Five laps." He seethed.

This made Kaity's laughter stop and stare at Espio with a look of either shock or horror. "Wha-Five? It's not like I super glued 'em ta ya."

Espio crossed his feathered arms, "Do I have to make it ten?"

"How 'bout one?"

"I'm settling for nothing less than five."

"But Espio, I can't run five laps."

Espio's expression seemed to soften, "Oh fine..." He gave her a push in the right direction, snapping at her; "Just run until you puke, then."

It was obvious the chameleon girl didn't like this option either, but she quickly took off running before Espio could change his mind and give her more laps to run.

**OoOoO**

To most people, a lap was usually one run around a stadium track, usually about a quarter of a mile. In Espio's tough training regimen, one lap was equal to the perimeter of whatever city they were in at the current time. For Station Square, that was _well_ over a mile run per lap. While Kaity could endure more than a mile run without breaking a sweat, two or three laps were her decided limit and maybe four on a day she feels at her best.

Because the sun wasn't up yet, the cool air kept her going for her first two laps through a track she had memorized; park, shopping district, business district, some neighborhoods where she sometimes got people waving at or trying to race her, a faster pace through the slums, slow down and run through a few fancy neighborhoods where people would occasionally glare distastefully at her until she was gone, though another shopping district, down a small patch of sandy beach at the Emerald Coast just behind the most popular hotel in the city, past Twinkle park, around the corner and back to the park. Repeat as nessicary.

Her fourth time around, she glanced at Espio as she went off; he had gotten a majority of the feathers off since her passing on lap three, but still had plenty strays stuck to him. And you could smell the syrup a distance away from him. Around the time she hit the second shopping district, she succumbed to lightheadedness and the queasy feeling in her stomach, gradually coming to a stop. While the girl stopped to catch her breath, she glanced around to figure how much farther to get back to Espio. He knew how long it took her to run the laps, after all. Coming back too late or early always brought on suspicion of shortcuts or stops...which could potentionally lead to more laps with him following and watching his apprentice like a hawk.

Luckily, she figured she was a bit ahead of her usual running time and looked around for anything to relieve her stomach; across the street was a covered area, almost like a bus stop, with several public phones and vending machines for snacks, candy and, what Kaity had been hoping for, drinks.

The girl rummaged through her pocket, finding two dollars and thirty-seven cents in change. She quickly jogged across the street, ignoring a blaring horn as she crossed and the tiger with his back to the vending machines using one of the phones, and checked the drink machine. While the carbonated drinks sounded good, it would be easy for Espio to smell any of them on her breath when she came panting back, so she went with a bottled water. As she counted out the nessicary amount, she couldn't help but listen to the tiger's conversation. Even if she could only hear one side of it.

"No, I haven't seen her so far, Boss...Yeah, we caught a few of the kids, they said that they saw her and a couple hedgehogs."

At that, Kaity couldn't help but look at the tiger, but said nothing to him. _''E's not talkin' 'bout me, is 'e?'_ she wondered. The tiger was standing at somewhat of an angle, so all she could see was a majority of his back and his right side she turned back to the vending machine, it wasn't her business, anyway.

The tiger was talking again, this time his voice was shaky, "N-no, Boss, we'll be more careful this time, promise. Them getting out wasn't our fault; it must have been after we left for the Apollo. The bomb went off early; some of the guys were killed inside."

_'Bomb?'_ Kaity's mind froze; of course, how could she forget the tigers, the children and the bomb at the Apollo building; she was nearly a victim. _'Come ta think of it, didn't those other tigers mention a Boss too?'_ she turned again, this time the tiger was positioned more to the right. Now the teen detective could easily see the familiar image of an emerald shard with a dagger going though it tattooed onto a square of fur-less skin on his arm.

Her attention snapped back she heard the clattering of change against the pavement and the tiger's attention suddenly snapping toward her. The detective quickly ducked her head and knelt down to gather up her change; if he knew what she looked like, chances are he would recognize the one the kids had been talking about. A muffled voice said something from the phone, so the other tiger responded, "What? No, just some clumsy dame dropping her money."

The tiger looked down at the chameleon, who had quietly crawled over to hear the conversation better. "Sorry," She said in a timid tone, "But could ya move yer foot? One of my quarters-" She exhaled sharply as the tiger's heel dug into her stomach and launched her roughly a foot from the tiger, she scowled at him.

"Stupid dame." The tiger hissed, "I'll call you back." He said into the phone and hung up, quickly leaving the chameleon girl and occasionally glancing around him in case anyone thought of following him.

That had been Kaity's plan exactly; to follow him right to the gang she had been hunting for, but that was not happening now. While the detective sat there a moment, half stunned from the kick, the other half buzzing with excitement.

"They're here again." Kaity grinned, "If I can track 'em ta their hide out I can-" She stopped, remembering her sensei and co-detective waiting for her, "Shoot! Espio!" She cursed, jumping to her feet and running as fast as she could to get back to the park before Espio could suspect anything.

**I feel like this chapter was too much description, not enough talking. |D**


	17. On The Trail

**Yay! More uploading! Though apparently I thought today was Thursday, so I probaly won't be able to update after today until Monday/Tuesday. Then I'm gone for the week and then I'mm be back. Hopefully with more ideas :D**

**I can't remember if I added copyrights to Cloud last time, so I'll add it just in case Cloud (C)-Fauxmon**

Chapter 2: On The Trail

When Kaity arrived back in the park, Espio was free of feathers, but still smelled of maple syrup. needless to say, he didn't look any happier than he had before. "Where were you?" He asked in a calm tone, "You're last lap was slower than usual."

"Espio, listen." Kaity said, ignoring the question all together. No need to tell Espio anymore than he's already found out. "I gotta do somethin', okay?"

"I know." Espio nodded.

Kaity stopped, dumbfounded. "Y…You do?"

"Yes. You have training to do."

"What? No, somethin' else." Kaity half growled, "It's really important."

Espio crossed his arms suspiciously, "How important?"

"Really, really, very important…ta the infinity power."

Espio raised an eye ridge. "What's so important?" He said a tone that more demanded an answer than asked for one.

"It's…just somethin' personal." Kaity replied, feeling suddenly jittery. The longer she stood here talking, the farther that tiger was getting from her. "Look, I just gotta-"

"Alright." Espio cut in, "Just come back to the agency…_alive_." The last part was added after a quick moment. For a moment, the chameleon girl didn't speak, so Espio turned and started back toward the Agency. "And be careful." He added, "Anything that can get you acting like this has to be dangerous."

**OoOoO**

Not that Kaity wasn't grateful for being let off the hook so easy, but the tight knot in her stomach told her that Espio already knew more than she had ever wanted him to about what was happening.

Once she got back to the pay phones she had first seen the tiger at, he was gone. _'No duh.'_ The thought to herself, feeling rather stupid that she had been surprised. The detective quickly headed in the same directing the tiger had gone, running as fast as her weary legs would move after all her laps and anxiety.

**OoOoO**

As much running and searching that went on, Kaity slowed to a stop after running several different directions in hopes of spotting the tiger.

"Are you looking for someone?" Cloud's voice asked from behind; not long after the hedge-girl was standing next to the panting chameleon. "Last time I saw you run like that was during that tigers episode that got you all worked up."

Kaity nodded, "I know." She said between breaths, "I found one of 'em, Cloud." She said, "If I can find that one again, I can follow 'im back ta their hideout and stop 'em."

Cloud's ears pricked in curiosity, "You seem pretty intent on catching them. Why?"

"Just...personal business." Kaity replied, "I really need ta-"

"I saw a tiger with that tattoo a few minutes ago." Cloud interrupted, "He was heading down toward Twinkle Park...though I _doubt _that's where he's heading."

"Thanks, Cloud." Kaity said quickly, dashing off in that direction. Curious, Cloud followed after the detective; after all, she had been there last time these tigers came around and they had a strange way of riling Kaity's attention. For someone like her, that could be dangerous.

**Pretty short compared to the first one, but I'm happy with it...and I couldn't go much furthor without giving away parts of the next chapter.**


	18. It's Not Fair!

**More updating! :D Also, something I need to say quickly: When I put Cloud's copyrights in last time, I used the wrong name; She's Faux Nobleheart now :3  
End announcment.**

Chapter 3: "It's Not Fair!"

Naturally, Cloud followed after her friend, sticking stealthily to the shadows and corners to keep from being seen. Not that it would've been a problem, as she figured out after a few blocks; the chameleon she was tailing seemed more interested in getting to Twinkle Park in the fastest time possible. More than once Cloud found herself holding her breath as Kaity ran out into moving traffic, narrowly coming out without harm every time.

**OoOoO**

Kaity stopped in front to Twinkle Park and scanned around; Thanks to Sherlock Holmes' own philosophies, the chameleon quickly learned as much as she could about navigating Station Square and what was where. In the immediate area, nothing in interest would be around. Not from what she knew about her target's gang. However, just a block away was a hotel she had almost checked into her first visit to Station Square; a seedy hotel just across the street from Club Rouge, he kind of place where a run-away or criminal could go without question as long as they paid.

So, with a new target in mind, the detective sped off, ignoring the green light and cars flying down the streets with drivers honking and swearing at her.

**OoOoO**

Kaity and her follower were outside of the hotel across from Club Rouge. the teen glanced around quickly and changed her color to a muddy brown color before striding in. Cloud quickly followed her, acting as if she belonged.

Once the hedge-girl was in, she could see her color-changed friend standing by the front desk chatting with the desk clerk. As she approached, she could see the desk clerk, a pale, sweaty-looking human, was chomping down on an unlit cigar. "Ain't nonna your business if a tiger came though here, kid." He was saying to Kaity.

"I'm meetin' 'im 'ere, now is 'e 'ere yet?" Kaity hissed back. Cloud could immediately detect the change in her voice; though Kaity didn't pronounce words "correctly" Naturally, this new voice had a bit of a twang and more words chopped up before they were spoken.

The desk clerk crossed his arms; Cloud could have gone without the sight of the human's shirt stained darker under the armpits and hairier-than-a-gorilla arms. Especially considering the man was almost bald. "What's 'is name?"

"I dunno, 'e tol' me 'e wuz gonna use a diff'rnt name." Kaity answered, "But I could tell ya what 'e looks like."

"Yeah, so could anyone who saw him walk in here."

"So 'e _is_ here." Kaity said with a triumphant grin. "Which room?"

The human looked suddenly shocked at what he had let slip but was back to his hard glare a moment later, "Can't tell ya. He'd have to tell you himself."

"C'mon, man. Cut a girl a break." Kaity groaned, "I've got it rough enough right now, okay?"

"Not my problem."

The younger mobian looked ready to give up after that statement, so the hedge-girl decided it was finally time to step in. "'Scuse me." She said in an almost musical tone, showing her detective friend that she could adapt her voice just as easily. "We really do need that name and num'er." The cobalt hedgehog dug into her pocket and placed a twenty dollar bill on the desk. "Can ya 'elp us out?"

the man took the twenty, scribbled something down on a pad of paper and tore out the page and gave it to the girls, along with a room key. "Here But you didn't get it from me, got it?"

Both nodded and put a hand up as if to say 'I swear'. Then headed on their way to the staircase.

Once they were on level three and on their way up to four then five, Kaity finally broke into a grin, "Cloud, did I ever tell ya how awesome ya are?"

"Not yet." Cloud answered with a tomcat smirk. "I got the impression you thought that, though."

Kaity laughed. "But seriously, though, I owe ya one fer helpin' me out back there."

Cloud simply shrugged as they exited the staircase and onto the fifth floor hallway, "He's on this floor." Her ears lowered a bit as her friend's expression suddenly got darker. "What is it about these guys that bothers you so much?" she asked, "I can tell it's not about them locking up children or setting off bombs."

"Personal." Kaity growled, putting her hand into a pocket Cloud knew her chameleon friend kept a firearm in. "Ya don't have ta stick 'round if ya don't wanna."

"I think I should..." The rogue said warily, she wasn't able to sense danger like Espio could, but the most oblivious person could have known something illegal was about to go down.

"Fine." Kaity said in an almost annoyed tone, stopping at their target room. "But leave 'im ta me, a'right?"

Cloud couldn't answer before the angry girl threw the door open, the lock was already busted, and stuck her gun in first before walking in and lowering the firearm. Cloud heard her swear from inside, looking in, she saw why; the tiger both herself and Kaity had seen was hanging from the ceiling fan.

"It's not fair!" Kaity screamed, kicking a wall violently, "It's not fair! **_It's just not fair_**!"

**I'm gonna have to squeeze quite a bit into chapter 4 and 5 |D So I probably won't update for a while and the chapters may be long...just a forewarning.**


	19. Almost There

**Okay, it's nearly midnight here, so I'm just gonna post this and say the next part of this will be up soon.  
Also, next time I stop in the middle of a short story like this, feel free to give me a kick in the ass and tell me to finish the damn story before I break.**

Chapter 4: Almost There

Cloud followed closely behind as Kaity stormed out of the room and down the hall. Since just asking had not worked, the ex-rogue opted to follow the angry little chameleon until she found the answers she was looking for.

"Where to now?" the cobalt girl asked.

"That was kinda the only lead I had." Kaity answered with a growl, "the door was forced open, so either they came and asked where 'e was or they followed 'im in and offed 'im without anyone knowin'."

"So, we ask Mr. Sunshine again?" Cloud asked, starting down the stairs with the detective.

"Don't really have a choice if we want figure out which happened."

The duo made their way down the stairs and to the front desk again, getting suddenly quiet as the neared the bottom of the stairs.

In the lobby a group of two or three tigers stood at the front desk by the man Cloud and Kaity had just barely gotten answers from before. Now he was all but eating the unlit cigar as the three tigers questioned him. Neither girl was close enough to hear, but the tone sounded menacing.

The cobalt hedgehog put a hand on Kaity's shoulder, she could see the tattoo the chameleon was staring at and knew she would jump out at attack if given the chance.

She was just brash like that.

The two waited until the tigers had scared the guy at the desk well enough to leave. Kaity darted out after them, "Kaity, wait!" Cloud stage whispered, chasing after her.

**OoOoO**

By the time Cloud got outside, Kaity was already following the group of tigers. The older could already guess how this could turn out, and, being the wiser of the two, followed to keep the chameleon girl out of trouble. Or worse.

**OoOoO**

The duo followed the tigers into the slums of Station Square, where the tigers suddenly got more jumpy, throwing glances over their shoulders just after their followers scramble for a hiding place.

"We can't keep following them like this." Cloud told Kaity, scanning ahead, "We're running out of hiding places."

"Maybe we're getting' close, then." Kaity said, following the tigers again, "If yer scared, though, go ahead and leave."

Cloud huffed something and followed, "You know I wouldn't."

"Thought I'd give ya the option." The chameleon smirked. She pointed ahead, "Look, they're headin' in there. I'm goin' in whether ya think it's crazy or not." With that, she took off and slipped in the dilapidated building before the door swung shut.

"Ka-!" Cloud let out a growl and hurried on. It was suddenly obvious how Espio could get so agitated with her sometimes.

**Yay, shortness.**


	20. A Past to See: Part Two: UNSOLVED

**Okay, it's now almost 1 AM and I suddenly have a headache.  
Also, since this story and _Nightmare Before Chaotix_ are now tied, I'll be working on both...so yeah, expect updates.  
Sorry watchers for getting an update on this twice, it just dawned on me that this story is done, so the case I mentioned at the bottom won't be until _This is What We Do V_.**

Chapter 5: A Past to See: Part Two: UNSOLVED

Once Cloud was inside, Kaity was already gone. 'That could be bad.' The hedgie thought, though she had no doubt the little chameleon could hold her own in a battle, but there was no question in Cloud's mind that she could be overwhelmed by the enemy. Cloud had not seen much the last crazy search Kaity had gone through for these tigers, but it was obvious enough that this was more than just a few people. This was a full-fledged gang. Nevermind how global it could possibly be.

At the sound of gunfire, the hedgehog girl bolted up the stairs, finding Kaity facing off with the group of tigers; the mammals on one side of the room and Kaity closest to Cloud. The girl crawled over to her friend, "Are you crazy?" Cloud hissed at her.

"Shut up, Cloud." Kaity hissed back, firing off a round, "I've got this."

"You've got this." Cloud scoffed, "You're almost out of bullets and you're not going to run out there and attack them…Kaity, are you listening?"

Cloud pulled Kaity back as she finished off the last of her bullets and started to jump out of her hiding place. "Cloud, what the hell?" The detective snarled as she was pulled down the stairs and out of the building.

"You're putting yourself in too much danger for a vendetta," The ex-rogue said "No more; I'm telling the Chaotix what's happening and they can deal with you."

**OoOoO**

At the Chaotix, Kaity sat with her arms crossed at Cloud explained everything to Vector. The croc at first had listened with interest at the beginning; then worried when Cloud mentioned how Kaity had run into the Apollo building knowing full well the bomb was there then to complete seriousness as she went onto the recent events.

Vector nodded solemnly, "Thanks for letting me know, Cloud." He said, "I'll handle it."

The hedge-girl nodded, "No problem…Now, excuse me but I've got other things to attend to." She said, leaving before anyone could say otherwise.

As soon as the ex-rogue was gone, Vector looked sternly at the pouting chameleon. She growled in response, "What?"

"What were you thinking?" Vector half growled, "You could've been killed."

"Yeah, and?" Kaity scoffed, standing up.

"Why didn't you say anything to us?" Vector demanded, "Why did you do something that stupid and not say anything to us about it?"

"'Cause it's not yer problem." Kaity snarled at him, "It's my problem and I'll deal with it."

Vector pinched the bridge of his snout, "That's not an excuse; we already closed this case."

"Maybe ya did." Kaity snapped, "But I haven't!"

"Stop looking into this, you'll get hurt." Vector said with a loud growl.

"I'm doin' everythin' I can ta stop these guys and ya can't stop me!' Kaity growled back.

"Fine," Vector snarled back, "Then I'm forbidding you to help in any more cases until you've changed your attitude."

This comment made Kaity stop completely, looking as though Vector had just slapped her. "B-But ya can't-!" She started, only to be interrupted by Vector.

"I'm the boss, of course I can." He answered.

Kaity let out a vicious snarl and stormed to her room, slamming the door behind her. There was a moment of silence before Espio looked at Vector, "Are you sure that was the right thing to do?"

Vector sighed, "I dunno, but if she keeps chasing this gang, it's bound to get her hurt…and none of us want to see that happen."

Espio nodded in agreement, "She isn't ready to go after something that big. In the meantime, let's see if we can't keep tabs on the group."

"Yeah, if we can even find them." Vector snorted. "We'll have to find something to keep Kaity occupied on our next case." The croc set out his notepad with details of a robbery, "Just send her to the library after you two train, then hurry back, we're leaving at six for this job."

"Very well." Espio nodded.

**I've actually been looking forward to the next case for a long time; Knowledge is Deadly. I'll just have to check if it's still okay to use the characters I asked to use a few years ago.  
And no, I'm not going to be going anymore into Kaity's past in the _This is What We Do_'s. I'll go into it more in a different story, but I probably won't get to it for a while.**


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